Why we build in Laravel
Laravel is a mature PHP framework that does the unglamorous parts of a platform well: queues, scheduled jobs, email, authentication, database migrations, testing. That leaves the time for the part that is specific to you. It is widely used, well documented and easy to hire for, so you are never locked in to us.
Our live platforms run Laravel 13 on PHP 8.4 and 8.5, on servers we manage, with MySQL, Postgres or SQLite depending on the job. On the front end we use server-rendered Blade for content sites, and Inertia with Vue or React when the interface needs to behave like an app.
What we do with it
- New platforms. Subscription services, data platforms, customer portals, back offices. See our work.
- Rebuilds from WordPress. When a site has become an application held together by plugins, we move it to Laravel, often in stages so nothing goes dark.
- Upgrades. Old Laravel versions brought up to date, with the tests to prove nothing changed that should not have.
- Rescues. An app another team built, now with nobody looking after it. We read it, write down what we find, and fix the urgent things first.
How we keep Laravel apps healthy
Tests and CI. The Visit Dundee platform carried 4,426 automated tests when we counted in September 2026, and deploys only go out when the suite passes. PLZ had 246 tests and 765 assertions green at its count on 2 October 2026.
Scheduled jobs that report in. Laravel's scheduler is easy to use and easy to forget. We record each run and alert when one goes stale.
Performance at the server. We cache what can be cached, and measure before and after. On PLZ, the video page went from 2,287 KB of HTML to 117 KB, and from 1.01 seconds to 0.39 seconds to load. On MyFootballFacts, player pages came back from the server in about half a second, against about 2.8 seconds on the plugin they replaced.
Isolation. Each app runs as its own system user with its own PHP pool, so one application cannot read another's secrets.
Laravel developers in Scotland
We are based in Dundee and work with teams across Scotland and the UK. You talk to the developers doing the work, by email or video call, and in person if you are nearby.