“How long will it take?” is the second question we get, right after “how much?” And like cost, the honest answer is a range, because a one-page site and a full online store aren’t really the same kind of project.
Below are some realistic timelines, where the weeks tend to go, and the thing that slows most projects down. (If you haven’t read the cost breakdown yet, the two go together.)
Realistic timelines
From kickoff to launch, assuming reasonably quick feedback and content that’s ready when we need it:
One-page / landing site - 1 to 3 weeks. A focused page with a single goal. Fast to design, fast to build.
Multi-page business website - 4 to 8 weeks. The common one. Home, services, about, contact, maybe a blog. Most of the spread comes from how custom the design is and how ready your content is.
Content / blog-driven site - 6 to 10 weeks. Similar to a business site, plus the article templates, categories, and publishing setup.
E-commerce / online store - 10 to 16 weeks. Products, cart, checkout, payments, shipping, taxes. Each one is a small project of its own.
Custom web app - 3 to 6 months, and up. Accounts, dashboards, real logic. Built in stages, and the timeline grows with the feature list.
Cross-platform mobile app - 3 to 6 months, and up. One codebase for iOS and Android, but app-store review and device testing add time you can’t rush.
These assume the project keeps moving. They’re counted in working days where things actually get done, not calendar days, so a slow week or two stretches them out. Heavy integrations, custom features, or slow sign-offs push past them as well, so treat them as typical rather than guaranteed.
Where the time actually goes
A website isn’t built start to finish in one sitting. It moves through a few phases, and most of them need something from you, not just us:
- Planning - what the site has to do, the pages, the structure. Short, but it sets up everything that follows.
- Design - the look and feel, page by page. This is where most of the back-and-forth happens.
- Build - turning the design into a real, fast, working site.
- Content - your words and images, dropped into place. More on this below; it’s the usual holdup.
- Review and QA - testing on real devices, fixing the small stuff, polishing.
- Launch - going live, final checks, handover.
The build itself is usually the predictable part. It’s the stuff around it that tends to stretch.
The thing that delays projects most
In our experience, the hold-up is almost never the code. It’s usually content and feedback.
A site can be completely built and just sitting there, waiting on the stuff only you can give us: the final copy, the photos, and a yes. We’ve seen three-week projects drag into three-month ones simply because the text never showed up.
So the fastest projects tend to be the ones where the client is ready and quick to reply. We handle the building; you keep it from stalling.
How to keep things moving
- Have your content ready - or tell us up front that you need help writing it, so we plan for it instead of waiting on it.
- Pick one decision-maker - when too many people weigh in on every choice, a timeline doubles fast.
- Give feedback in batches, quickly - everything in one go beats a trickle of notes over three weeks.
- Trust the order of things - we build in a deliberate sequence for a reason; jumping ahead usually means redoing work.
None of this is about rushing the work itself. It’s just about not leaving a finished site to sit around waiting on an email.
So, realistically?
For most small businesses, a proper website lands in the 4-to-8-week range when everyone’s moving. Bigger or more custom builds take longer, and honestly that’s fine - good work takes the time it takes.
Want a real timeline for your project? Our estimate tool gives you a ballpark on scope, and when you tell us what you’re building, we’ll map out an honest schedule right alongside the cost.
Either way, you’ll get a clear schedule up front and regular updates, not a month of silence.