How Long Does It Take to Build a Website — Realistic Timelines and What Affects the Duration

Realistic timelines for each type of project

Here are realistic estimates based on real projects, under normal conditions — meaning a prepared client, content ready to go, and prompt feedback:

• Simple landing page (1 page): 1–2 weeks — brief, design, build, feedback and launch
• Brochure website (3–5 pages): 2–4 weeks — more time for design, more pages to implement, more rounds of feedback
• Full business website (7–12 pages): 4–8 weeks — complex structure, possibly a blog, advanced contact forms, integrations
• Simple e-commerce (up to 50 products): 6–10 weeks — WooCommerce or custom build, online payments, stock management
• Redesign of an existing site: 3–6 weeks — depends how many pages exist and how many are being kept

These timelines assume everything runs smoothly. In practice, the most common source of delays is not the designer — it's missing content or slow feedback from the client.

Factors that extend the duration of a project

Several things can significantly lengthen a web project, regardless of how efficiently the designer is working:

Content — the number one bottleneck

If you don't have your copy, photographs, and graphic materials ready at the start of the project, every page will be blocked until they arrive. I've seen four-week projects stretch to four months purely because of missing content. A designer can't build empty pages — they need real content to create a functional design.

Direction changes mid-project

If you approve the design and then decide you want a completely different layout, or that the site's purpose has changed, the timeline essentially resets. Any major change after design approval means additional time — and usually additional cost.

Slow or fragmented feedback

If feedback trickles in over several weeks — "one comment today, another tomorrow, another next week" — the designer can't work efficiently. Consolidated feedback, given once after each stage, accelerates the process enormously.

Features added along the way

If, after the project scope has been agreed, you add new requirements ("I forgot to mention I also need a booking system and a quote calculator"), the timeline and cost grow proportionally. Every new feature needs to be planned, designed, and built.

The most common cause of delays

Based on experience across dozens of projects: missing or late content accounts for around 70% of web project delays. Clients consistently underestimate how long it takes to write good copy, source quality photography, or prepare graphic materials.

The solution: prepare your content before the project begins. At minimum, a rough draft of the copy for each page — even if it's not polished. A designer can work with drafts. They cannot work with blank pages.

How to speed things up as a client

There are concrete things you can do to shorten your project duration:

• Prepare content in advance — copy, photos, logo in vector format, any existing materials
• Designate a single point of contact — if several people in your business have opinions, appoint one person to gather feedback internally and pass it on as a single, unified response
• Respond promptly to questions and prototypes — every day waiting for a reply is a day added to the timeline
• Know what you want from the start — gather visual references (websites you like), clarify your goals and target audience before the first conversation
• Approve in stages, not all at once — sign off on the design before implementation begins, rather than requesting changes once everything is built

What happens at each stage

For transparency, here are the typical stages of a project and how long each takes:

1. Briefing and strategy (2–5 days): discussion of goals, target audience, site structure, visual references
2. UI design (5–10 days): wireframes and visual design in Figma, typically for the homepage and 1–2 inner page templates
3. Design approval and revisions (3–7 days): client feedback and any necessary adjustments
4. Build (5–15 days): the actual coding — responsive layout, content integration
5. Testing and QA (2–4 days): cross-browser and device testing, technical SEO checks, performance
6. Launch and final setup (1–2 days): DNS configuration, SSL, Google Search Console, Analytics

If you'd like to understand the full process from initial idea to launch, you can read more on the process page. And if you're ready to get started, get in touch for an accurate estimate for your specific project.