„And when will it be ready?“ is the second question in every meeting, right after the price. „Six weeks“ is close to useless as an answer, because nobody says what those six weeks are counted from or who does what during them.
In practice the schedule almost never slips because of programming. It slips because of waiting. For copy, for photos, for three people in a company to agree on one sentence, or for domain credentials nobody can find. And because no quote ever mentions it, from the outside it looks like the supplier running late.
This article sets out what happens in which week, how many hours it takes from the people in the company, and where the time goes missing. Read it before you sign and you will estimate the schedule better than the quote does.
Short answer
- A one page site: 2 to 3 weeks. A multi page company site: 4 to 6 weeks. A site with custom functionality: 6 to 10 weeks.
- Those weeks count from the moment the material is in, not from signing. That is the single most common misunderstanding.
- The company will spend 10 to 15 hours on an ordinary company website, spread across the whole project. Anyone budgeting zero will hold it up.
- Two causes cover most delays: copy and photos. Both can be sorted out in advance.
- Rebuilding an existing site takes a week or two longer than a new one, because content has to be carried over and redirects prepared.
Why the schedule is not about programming
Break a company website project into hours and it comes out roughly like this: a third is thinking and agreeing, a third is design and content, and a third is the build itself. Programming is one third, and it is the part that gets estimated best.
The other two thirds depend on how fast answers come back. When „which three services go at the top“ is answered in two days, the project moves. When it waits ten days for a management meeting, a whole week is gone.
So do not ask how long it will take. Ask what will be waited for, and when.
| Scope | Usual timescale | Hours on your side | What affects it most |
|---|---|---|---|
| One page | 2 to 3 weeks | 3 to 5 hours | Whether you have copy and photos |
| Multi page company site | 4 to 6 weeks | 10 to 15 hours | Page count and who writes the copy |
| Site with custom functionality | 6 to 10 weeks | 15 to 30 hours | Integration with systems you already run |
| Rebuild of an older site | 1 to 2 weeks longer | depends on the amount of content | How many pages are carried over |
Six weeks, week by week
This is an ordinary company site of six to ten pages. On a smaller one the weeks merge, on a bigger one they multiply, but the order stays the same.
| Week | What we do | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kick off call, site structure, page list | An hour and a half on a call and answers to ten questions |
| 2 | Design of the homepage and one inner page | Material: logos, photos, existing copy, certificates |
| 3 | Design feedback applied, the build starts | Feedback on the design, ideally within three days |
| 4 | All pages built and filled with content | Copy, or sign off on the copy we wrote |
| 5 | A work in progress site to click through, mobile testing | Go through the site and write down what is off |
| 6 | Fixes, deployment, redirects, training | Domain credentials and an hour for training |
Look at the third column. Nothing in it takes days. It adds up to ten to fifteen hours across six weeks, so a little over two hours a week. The volume is never the problem; the problem is that it lands at a moment when somebody's head is full of something else.
Which is why it pays to book those two hours a week in advance, as a meeting with yourself. It sounds like advice from a handbook, and it is the single thing that keeps projects on schedule.
Five things that hold a project up
In order of how often they happen.
- Copy. By far the most common. The company promises to supply the text and then puts it off for four weeks, because writing about your own firm is uncomfortable and never urgent.
- Photos. Either there are none, or they are in a state that cannot go on a website. A shoot is half a day, but a date, the weather and the people all have to line up.
- Sign off. When a design has to pass three people who meet once a week, every round of feedback costs a week.
- Changing the brief halfway. A legitimate thing to do, with a price and a date attached. An extra page is a day, an extra language is a week, an extra client area is a new project.
- Credentials. A domain bought eight years ago, an e-mail account nobody has the password for, and a former IT contractor who does not pick up. This gets dealt with in the last week and can push the launch back by a month.
We will send the copy when we get a chance. The photos are around somewhere. The domain credentials must exist. We will agree a date once things are clearer.
We write the copy from your call, the shoot is booked for week two, and the domain credentials get tracked down in week one rather than in the last week.
When an existing site is being rebuilt
A redesign is not a new site in a different colour. It is a new site plus work that quotes tend to leave out.
There are three extra jobs. First, the existing content has to be reviewed and decided on: what carries over, what gets rewritten and what disappears. On a site with two hundred pages that alone is a few days. Second, a redirect map has to be built so search positions are not lost. Third, data has to be moved, which on a shop or a catalogue is usually the heaviest part of the whole project.
In practice that is a week or two on top of a new site of the same size. And one important difference in order: the list of every address on the old site has to be exported right at the start, not before launch. Leave it to the end and the redirect map gets built in a hurry, which is exactly when positions get lost.
When a fast timescale is a warning sign
„A website in a week“ is not a miracle, it is a description of a method. In a week you can buy a template, swap the photos and colours and drop in the copy you supplied. That is a legitimate service and the right choice for some companies, but it is a different product from a site built around what your company actually does.
One question tells them apart: what exactly will happen during that week. If the answer contains not one sentence about your company, your customers or your services, you are buying a template.
It works the other way round too. Six months for an ordinary company website is not a sign of thoroughness, it is a sign that you are in a queue. Ask when work will start, not when it will finish.
Do not ask how long it will take. Ask what will be waited for, and when that will be you
How we do it
Our price list says 2 to 3 weeks for a single page, 4 to 6 weeks for a company site and 6 to 10 weeks for a site with custom functionality. The breakdown above is exactly what happens inside them.
Three things go with that:
- We state the whole price and the whole timescale upfront and neither moves within the agreed scope. If the scope changes, we say what it does to both before we start on the change.
- We can take the copy off your hands. Writing that gets postponed is the most common cause of slippage. Twenty minutes dictated into a phone is enough material; we write the rest and send it to you for approval.
- We take the photos ourselves. That removes finding a photographer and waiting for a date that suits nobody.
And the honest other side: there are two of us, so we take on a limited number of projects at a time. When several enquiries land together we offer a later start rather than a longer project. We would rather say work begins in three weeks than promise a date and then keep it at somebody else's expense.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a company website take to build?
A one page site takes 2 to 3 weeks, a multi page company site 4 to 6 weeks, and a site with custom functionality 6 to 10 weeks. Those weeks count from when the material is in, not from signing the contract. Rebuilding an older site takes a week or two longer, because content is carried over and redirects prepared.
How much of my own time will it take?
On an ordinary company website, 10 to 15 hours spread across six weeks, so a little over two hours a week. Mostly the kick off call, supplying material, feedback at each stage and training. „Almost none“ from a supplier is bad news: it means the copy will be written without you.
What most often delays a website project?
Copy and photos, in that order. Writing about your own company is uncomfortable and never urgent, so it gets put off. Third is internal sign off: when a design has to pass three people who meet once a week, every round of feedback costs a week.
Should I be suspicious of a website built in a week?
Not suspicious, just aware it is a different product. In a week you can fill in a ready made template, which for some companies is the right choice. You can tell by asking what the supplier will do during that week: if the answer contains not one sentence about your company and your customers, you are buying a template.
Can I shorten the timescale by writing the copy myself?
Usually the opposite. Copy written by a business owner alongside their normal work is the most common reason a project runs a month over. Dictating the material into a phone and having it written up is faster, because you hold the facts and the phrasing is extra work somebody else can do.
When should the domain and credentials be dealt with?
In week one, not in the last week. A domain bought years ago, an e-mail account with no password and a former administrator who does not answer can push a launch back by a month. It is the one part of a project that cannot be sped up by working harder, because it waits on somebody outside.
Summary
- A company website is 4 to 6 weeks, counted from the material being in, not from signing.
- Programming is about a third of the time. The rest is agreeing, content and waiting for answers.
- The company will spend 10 to 15 hours on it. Budgeting zero holds the project up.
- Copy and photos are the two most common causes of slippage, and both can be sorted out in advance.
- On a rebuild, the list of old addresses is exported at the start, not before launch.
- A site in a week is not a miracle but a method. Six months means you are in a queue.
Want a date for your project, not a range from an article
Tell us what the site needs to do and when you need it. We will say whether it is possible, what would have to happen on your side, and when we could start. If we cannot make it, we will say so straight away rather than in three weeks.