How long does it take to have a website built?
Two to three weeks of build time, and still it takes longer at most companies. Where the time actually goes, and what you can do to speed it up.
This site says a website takes two to three weeks of build time. That is true, and it is also the least useful answer, because it is not the same as the time between your first call and the day the site goes live. That gap causes most of the disappointment in this trade, so here is the whole picture.
The three blocks the time sits in
A website project consists of waiting time, build time and your time. Only the middle block is mine.
- Waiting time until the start date: usually two to four weeks, depending on what is running.
- Build time: two to three weeks for a website, three to four for a webshop.
- Your time: copy, photos, feedback on the design and handing over access.
So count on four to seven weeks from first call to live, and longer once integrations, multiple languages or a webshop come into it. Anyone promising two weeks from the first phone call either has nothing else on or has left something out.
Where projects actually get stuck
Almost never on the code. The build is the predictable part; it is planned and one person works on it. What runs late is nearly always content.
- Copy that does not exist yet and that nobody in the company has time for.
- Photos from five years ago, or only in low resolution on someone's phone.
- Feedback that has to pass three people and is only complete after the holidays.
- Domain access sitting with a former employee or a previous agency.
The fastest projects are not the ones with the shortest planning, but the ones where a single person on the client side is allowed to decide.
What you can do to speed it up
Three things save a week or more on any project, and you can arrange all three before anything is built.
- Appoint one decision-maker. Feedback from a committee costs more time than the build.
- Collect your copy and imagery in one folder before we start. Rough is fine, I finish it.
- Find out who manages your domain and whether you still have access. This is surprisingly often why a launch slips a week.
And when it genuinely has to be fast
That is possible, but then the scope changes, not the speed of the work. A single landing page with existing copy is live within a week. A full site with fifteen pages, new copy and an integration with your admin is not, however hard anyone works.
What I do in that case is split it: live first with the part that brings in enquiries, the rest after. That is almost always wiser than waiting three weeks for a complete package nobody has seen yet.
How the track runs step by step is on how I work, and what is included on website development.