How Long Does It Take to Build a Website?
Typical website project phases and timelines by project type, what causes delays and how to keep a website build on schedule.
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How long a website takes to build depends on its size, complexity, the platform, and how quickly content and feedback are provided. A small brochure site built from a theme can launch in a few weeks. A custom-designed business website commonly takes two to four months. Large ecommerce or custom-functionality projects can take considerably longer. In practice, delays more often come from content and decision-making than from development itself.
Typical project phases
1. Discovery and planning
Understanding goals, audiences, competitors, required features, site structure and content needs. Output is usually a brief, sitemap and project plan. See our guide on writing a website design brief.
2. Content
Writing or gathering copy, images, testimonials and other materials. This is frequently the longest phase if the business is producing content itself. See our guide on content-first web design.
3. Design
Wireframes and visual designs for key page templates, followed by review and revisions.
4. Development
Building the site, setting up the CMS, integrations, forms and tracking.
5. Testing
Checking across devices and browsers, testing forms and functionality, performance, accessibility and SEO basics.
6. Launch
Moving to the live server, redirects from old URLs, DNS changes and post-launch checks. See our website launch checklist.
Rough timelines by project type
These are general ranges; individual projects vary.
- Small template-based site (5 to 10 pages): roughly 3 to 6 weeks.
- Custom-designed small business site (10 to 30 pages): roughly 8 to 16 weeks.
- Ecommerce store on Shopify or WooCommerce: roughly 6 to 16 weeks, depending on catalogue size and customisation.
- Complex sites with custom functionality, integrations or large content migrations: often 4 to 9 months or more.
What causes delays
- Content not ready: the most common cause.
- Slow feedback: each review round that takes a week adds a week.
- Too many decision-makers: conflicting feedback leads to extra revisions.
- Scope changes: adding features mid-project.
- Third-party dependencies: waiting for integrations, access to accounts, or other suppliers.
- Migration complexity: moving large amounts of content or data from an old site.
How to keep a project on schedule
- Start content early, ideally before design begins.
- Nominate one decision-maker who consolidates feedback.
- Agree review deadlines at the start.
- Define scope clearly and keep a list of “phase two” ideas rather than adding them mid-project.
- Provide access early: domain, hosting, analytics and other accounts.
- Prioritise: launch with the essentials and improve afterwards.
Launching in phases
For larger sites, launching a core version first, with key pages and essential functionality, and then adding further sections can reduce time to launch and let you learn from real users sooner. This works well when the old site is holding the business back.
Redesigns and migrations
Redesigns of existing sites need extra time for content audits, URL mapping and redirects to protect search rankings. See our guides to website redesigns and website migration SEO.
Planning a realistic timeline
A website timeline is a shared responsibility between the business and the developer. Clear scope, early content and timely decisions do more to shorten projects than anything else.
If you are planning a new website, our website design and development service can scope the project, set a realistic timeline and manage it through to launch.