Test

I would recommend installing Debugbar and set it up in your local environment​ and see what is causing the site to be this slow. Maybe some query or something.

Have you tried​ to clear the cache? And route?

Here you go, a link to the GitHub page: https://github.com/barryvdh/laravel-debugbar

And I have this in my AppServiceProvider

public function register()
{
    if ($this->app->isLocal()) {
        $this->app->register(\Barryvdh\Debugbar\ServiceProvider::class);
}

Have you tried to use Storage inside Laravel? It may have some benefits​

https://laravel.com/docs/5.8/filesystem