Web Shopping Systems
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Custom web application development with Claude Code

AI-assisted software development led by an experienced programmer. WebShoppingSystems.com builds custom directory websites, user account portals, Stripe subscription billing, advertiser portals and admin dashboards. Proof: RentalFacts.online, a complete rental-housing platform with all of them in one application.

See the live RentalFacts.online site Contact us about your project

Custom portal development: four connected areas, one application

Public directory website

  • Directory and listing search with full-text filters
  • Report pages with photo and video lightbox
  • Owner and company pages that reveal patterns
  • Legal-aid directory for all 50 states
  • How To library, case studies and sponsors
  • Multilingual (English and Spanish), built for search engines

Tenant area

  • Passwordless sign-in by email code
  • Guided report form with photos, video and PDFs
  • Edit, resolve or upgrade any report
  • Privacy controls over what is shown
  • Email updates at every step

Advertiser portal and Stripe subscriptions

  • Self-service packages by page, position and size
  • Image, video or text-link ads, auto-fitted to size
  • Monthly Stripe subscriptions and promo codes
  • Replace creatives, manage billing, cancel any time
  • Automatic handling of failed payments

Admin dashboard

  • Moderation queues for reports, flags and disputes
  • Ad review, pricing, coupons, refunds and display counts
  • One combined payments ledger
  • Permanent communications log, searchable
  • Content, translation and case-study managers
  • Complete audit trail of every change

AI-assisted software development: hours, not months

With AI

about 75 hours

of active working sessions to plan and build RentalFacts.online: about 10 hours of system design (September 1 to 8) and about 65 hours of Claude Code build sessions (September 2 to October 13, 2026).

Without AI

1,600 to 2,600 hours

is a realistic estimate for one programmer working alone, planning included: roughly 10 to 16 months full time.

Acceleration

20 to 35 times faster

from the same specification, with the same human review of every payment, privacy and legal decision.

How these numbers were reached: the design figure is measured from the timestamps of the planning conversation (four working sessions), and the build figure from the project's version-control history (149 commits across 39 working sessions). Both count active time only. The single-programmer figure is an estimate for about 28,000 lines of hand-written code in 200+ files, 55 database migrations, Stripe one-time and subscription billing, a moderation back office, two languages, file-upload processing, and the testing and debugging a professional would do. Your project's timeline will depend on its scope.

Highlights

Dispute process

Property owners can contest a report through a verified, moderated process with a refundable deposit, and the outcome is published as a public summary.

Managed ad zones

Eight placements across the site, filled by rule: pinned ads first, then a fair random fit. Every ad links to the advertiser and counts its views.

Evidence case studies

Sortable, searchable evidence tables with statistics, charts and a lightbox, tied to the owner's record.

Always bilingual

Content is translated when it is saved, so pages stay fast and the translations can be reviewed by hand.

Secure custom software, built in from day one

  • Passwordless sign-in
  • Role-based access control
  • Automatic session timeouts
  • Protection against common web attacks
  • Strict input validation
  • Scanned and sanitized uploads
  • Photo, video and PDF privacy scrubbing
  • Card data never touches our server
  • Verified payment notifications
  • Tamper-resistant audit trail
  • HTTPS throughout
  • Encrypted, tested backups
  • Round-the-clock monitoring

Custom web application development: common questions

Can you build a directory site with recurring ad revenue?

Yes. RentalFacts.online does exactly that: searchable listings, a self-service advertiser portal with monthly Stripe subscriptions, and an admin dashboard to run it.

Is this faster than hiring a programmer who does not use AI?

Substantially. An experienced programmer directing Claude Code builds a custom application in a small fraction of the usual time, and still reviews every sensitive decision.

Can you rebuild a lost or outdated website from scratch?

Yes. RentalFacts.online was a full rebuild of a database that had been lost with no backup, and it now has automated, tested backups.

Can it include Stripe subscriptions and an admin dashboard?

Yes: checkout, recurring billing, promo codes, refunds, failed-payment handling and a single ledger for the site owner.

How it was built

Hand-written PHP and MariaDB with no framework, a hand-written responsive design system, and integrations with Stripe, Microsoft Translator and a privacy-respecting analytics service. Every feature was specified by the owner, built with Claude Code, and tested against the running site and the real payment processor, with human review at every step involving money, privacy or legal exposure.

About WebShoppingSystems.com

WebShoppingSystems.com is a programming and development company created in 2001 by Kimberly Carr. Each project is led by an experienced programmer who uses Claude Code to build custom web applications quickly, then reviews, tests and hardens the result by hand. RentalFacts.online is a working example of the approach: a complete platform with a public directory, user accounts, subscription billing and an admin back office. A few other notable projects completed by Web Shopping Systems before AI was available are GiveDirect.org and RepairBase.net. GiveDirect is a charity management firm managing donations for more than 2000 charities. RepairBase.net is a national web-based cost-estimation tool used by real estate inspectors, realtors, appraisers, lenders, asset managers, and property preservation companies (HUD uses it for auditing REO and property preservation estimates).

Contact WebShoppingSystems.com to describe your project and get an estimate of what it would take.

Need a custom web application, directory website or portal? Contact WebShoppingSystems.com and tell us what you need.

Last updated October 13, 2026.