CentriWebHow long it takes to build a website depends far more on how quickly content and decisions arrive than on how long the building itself takes. The code and layout for a small business site are usually the shorter part of the schedule, and the waiting is for text, photographs, approvals and the answers to questions only the owner can give.
No one can give a single figure that fits every site, and any article that does is guessing. What follows explains what the stages are, what stretches each one, and how to work out a realistic schedule for your own project.
The stages, and who holds the clock
A website project passes through the same stages whether you use a builder platform, a freelancer or an agency. The difference is how many of them you do yourself.
| Stage | What happens | Who usually holds the clock |
|---|---|---|
| Brief and plan | Goals, pages, who it is for, what a visitor should do | Shared |
| Content | Writing the words, choosing or taking photographs, gathering logos, reviews, prices | Mostly the owner |
| Design | Layout and look, usually in rounds | The designer, then the owner reviewing |
| Build | Turning the design into a working site, adding forms and connections | The builder |
| Testing | Phones, browsers, forms, speed, links, accessibility basics | The builder, with the owner checking |
| Launch | Pointing the domain, redirects, switching on tracking | The builder |
| After launch | Fixes, search engines finding the new pages | Shared, then time |
Look at the third column. For most small sites, the slowest items belong to the owner: supplying content, giving feedback and approving. That is why two sites of identical size can take very different amounts of time.
How long does it take to build a website: what moves it
Content
Words and images are the usual cause of delay. A designer can lay out a page in days, but cannot finish it if the service descriptions, the team photos and the pricing wording have not arrived. Sites most often stall when content is promised “next week” and then arrives in pieces over a month. Content also decides whether the finished site brings in enquiries at all, so time spent on it is not wasted.
Decisions and approvals
Every round of feedback adds a gap: the time you take to review, plus the time to make changes. One person who approves quickly shortens the project. A partner, a manager and a board who each review separately lengthen it, and conflicting comments add another round to settle them.
Size and complexity
More pages need more content and more checking. Features add their own stages: online booking, a shop, a calculator, a customer login, or connections to a CRM or accounting system. These do not just add build time. They add decisions about rules and wording, which are the slow part. See what makes an integration quick or slow for one example.
Starting point
A new site on an empty slate is simpler than rebuilding an old one. A redesign involves deciding what to keep and carrying old addresses across, covered in website redesign: when it is worth it.
The approach you choose
A template on a hosted builder can be put together by a keen owner in far less calendar time than a custom design, because there is no design round. But the content still has to be written, and a template does not decide what to say. Website builder vs web designer sets out the trade-offs.
A worked example with your own numbers
Take a ten-page site for a local business. The following illustrates the method and is not a benchmark.
- Brief and plan: 2 working sessions.
- Content: you plan to write one page a day, but you only have an hour a day free. That is realistically two pages a week, so ten pages take five weeks instead of two.
- Design: the designer shows a first version, you review it for three days, they revise for two, you review for another three.
- Build and testing: the builder works from the approved design and finished content.
Add up the waiting rather than the working. In this example you are holding the clock for five weeks of writing and about a week of reviewing. The build, which people tend to focus on, may fit around that. If you can hand over all the content in one go, or have the designer write it from a conversation, the schedule shortens by weeks without anyone typing faster.
To do this for your own project, list your pages, estimate your realistic hours per page of content, divide by the hours a week you can really give, and add the turnaround time of each feedback round. That figure is your own floor.
What to have ready before you start
A short checklist, gathered in advance, removes most of the early stalls:
- Your logo in a usable file, and your brand colours if you have them.
- A list of services, each with two or three sentences in your own words.
- Photographs of your work, your premises or your team, taken on a decent phone in good light if there is no budget for a photographer.
- Genuine customer reviews you have permission to use.
- Your service area, opening hours, phone number, email and any licence or registration details you are required to show.
- Examples of two or three sites you like and one you dislike, with a note on why.
If this takes you a week to assemble, that week would have been spent in the middle of the project instead, with the designer waiting. Doing it first is the cheapest schedule saving there is.
How to shorten a website project
- Gather content first. Collect logos, photos, reviews, service descriptions and contact details before design starts.
- Name one decision maker. Others give input; one person decides.
- Cut the page list. Launch with the pages that bring enquiries and add the rest later.
- Agree the number of review rounds at the start, and set dates for each.
- Book your own time. Put the hours for writing and reviewing in your diary the way you would a client meeting.
- Ask for a draft on a private link early so problems show up while they are cheap to fix.
Starting small is not a compromise. A site that is live with six strong pages starts working sooner than one that is still waiting on the twentieth. It can grow as you learn which pages people read.
After launch: what still takes time
Launch is not the end of the clock. Search engines find and re-assess new pages gradually. Google says in its guidance on moving a site that for a medium-sized site it can take a few weeks or more for new URLs to appear in place of old ones, and that rankings can fluctuate meanwhile. For a brand new site there is no old site to compare, but the same principle applies: do not judge results on day three.
Plan some time in the first weeks to test the contact form, check where enquiries land, and fix what real use shows. Make sure someone is named to reply. A fast website with a slow reply loses the same work as a slow website, and how fast to reply to an enquiry covers that end.
Asking a builder for a timeline
When someone quotes a timeline, ask what it assumes. A useful answer names the number of pages, the content you must supply and by when, how many review rounds are included, and what happens if feedback is late. A timeline that does not mention your part is a timeline that will slip. For other questions worth asking, see questions to ask a web design agency.
CentriWeb builds websites on WordPress and can write and gather content alongside the build, which is often where a schedule is won or lost. The first step is a 30 minute call to list what exists and what is missing.