How long does it take to build a website?

Three inputs set the schedule:

• Scope. Page count, page types, custom features (bookings, quotes, portals, e-commerce), integrations with your CRM or other tools, and whether design is template-based or custom.
• Content readiness. Copy, images, logos and brand assets that arrive at kickoff keep a project on time. Content that trickles in over weeks adds those weeks to the launch date.
• Decision speed. One decision-maker who reviews within 48 hours keeps the build moving. Several stakeholders, each with their own feedback round, can double the timeline without a line of code changing.

For a mid-size business site of 10 to 20 pages:

• Week 1: Discovery, page jobs, sitemap and wireframes. For rebuilds, a crawl of the old site and a redirect plan.
• Weeks 2 to 3: Visual design and copy, run in parallel once wireframes are approved.
• Weeks 4 to 5: Development, CMS setup, forms and integrations (CRM, booking, WhatsApp), analytics and tracking.
• Week 6: Testing on real devices, speed checks, one structured review round, then launch.
• After launch: Monitoring for the first few weeks: Search Console, Core Web Vitals, form deliverability, and whether enquiries are reaching the right people.

Anything beyond that baseline adds time in predictable chunks. Each significant custom feature, such as a booking system, member area or payment gateway, typically adds one to two weeks for build and testing. Migrating an existing site's content and redirects commonly adds another one to two weeks.

Not everything has to launch on day one. Use these criteria to split the build:

• Launch with whatever produces and captures enquiries: core service pages, proof, contact and booking, tracking, and the connection to your CRM.
• Phase two can hold features that improve the experience but don't block revenue: a resource library, client portal, extra language versions, advanced filters.
• Never defer redirects on a rebuild, mobile testing, or form testing. These are the things that cost you if they go wrong.

• Hand over content at kickoff, or brief us to write it. Finished copy and chosen images at the start often save one to two weeks.
• Name one decision-maker with authority to approve.
• Consolidate feedback into single, scheduled review rounds rather than a rolling stream of small changes.
• Build on a proven platform with custom design on top, rather than writing everything from zero.
• Agree integrations early. If the site needs to feed your CRM, get access and field names sorted in week one, not week five.

What should never be compressed: testing across devices and browsers, and checking every form end to end. A fast build that breaks on mobile costs more in fixes than it saved.

Have these ready and the build starts on the front foot:

• One named decision-maker and a backup.
• Logo files, brand colours and fonts.
• A list of services, prices or price logic, and areas served.
• Three to five examples of proof: reviews, case studies, photos of real work.
• Access to your domain, current hosting, Google Search Console and analytics.
• Details of where enquiries should go: CRM, email, WhatsApp, and who gets alerted.
• Two or three sites you like, and why.

• Starting design before content is planned. Designs built around placeholder text get reworked when real copy arrives.
• Feedback by committee. Five people commenting separately on the same page, with conflicting notes.
• Adding scope mid-build. "While you're at it" requests that each add a week.
• Leaving integrations to the end. Discovering in the last week that the CRM needs an upgrade to accept web forms.
• Launching on a Friday afternoon. Nobody's around to fix the form that stopped sending.

A hypothetical example. Say you run a 15-person accounting firm and want a new 12-page site with an enquiry form that feeds your CRM and a booking link for consultations.

With content ready and one partner signing off, it might look like this: week 1 discovery and wireframes; weeks 2 and 3 design and copy; week 4 build, CRM connection and booking; week 5 testing and launch. Five weeks.

Now the same project with three partners reviewing separately and service descriptions still being written: wireframes take two weeks to approve, copy arrives in week 5, design is revised twice, and launch slips to week 10. Same scope. Same agency. Twice as long.

Projects start once the scope is signed off. We agree a schedule at kickoff with named review dates and one decision-maker on your side, and we tell you upfront what we need and when. If writing copy is the bottleneck, we can write it.

We plan integrations in week one, not at the end, so forms, bookings and CRM connections are tested alongside the pages. And we phase large builds: launch what produces enquiries first, then add the rest, so the site starts working for you sooner.