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The honest answer for most small business websites is six to twelve weeks from kick-off to launch. A simple brochure site with content ready can be done in three or four. A larger site with several sectors, a booking system or an integration takes three to four months.
The range is wide because the build is rarely the slow part. Design and development run to a schedule. What moves the date is everything around it: content, decisions and approvals. Knowing where the weeks actually go is the difference between a project that lands on time and one that drifts into next quarter.
Where the time really goes
A realistic shape for a typical small business site of eight to fifteen pages.
Week 1: discovery and planning
Work out what the site has to achieve, who it is for, what pages it needs and how someone moves through it. This includes the sitemap, the goals for each page and any technical requirements. Skipping this stage feels fast and costs a fortnight later, because you end up redesigning pages that should never have existed.
Weeks 2 to 4: design
The homepage first, signed off before anything else is drawn. Once that direction is agreed, the inner page templates follow quickly, because the decisions have already been made. Expect one or two rounds of feedback on the homepage and lighter rounds after that.
Weeks 3 to 6: content
Copy and images, running alongside design. This is the stage that most often slips, and we will come back to it, because it is the single biggest cause of a late launch.
Weeks 4 to 8: build
Turning approved designs into a working site: templates, responsive behaviour, the content management system, forms, animation, performance work. On a bespoke build this is steady, predictable work. It only becomes unpredictable when the design is still moving.
Weeks 8 to 10: testing and launch
Checking every page on real devices, testing forms, setting up redirects from old URLs, adding analytics and tracking, running a final accessibility and speed pass, then going live. Allow a week for this even on a small site, and do not schedule the launch for a Friday afternoon.
The three things that actually cause delays
1. Content that has not been written
By a distance, the number one reason a website is late is waiting for copy, photos, staff bios, product details or case studies. Design and build can carry on with placeholder text for a while, but there is a point where nothing can progress without the real words, and projects sit there for weeks.
The fix is to start content in week one, not week six, and to be honest at the start about whether you have the time to write it. If you do not, get someone to write it for you. That decision made early saves a month.
2. Feedback that arrives slowly, or from too many people
A design round that takes two days to review keeps the project moving. One that takes two weeks because it is being circulated around the office adds a fortnight, every single round. Three rounds like that and you have lost six weeks without anyone doing anything wrong.
Agree upfront who gives feedback, that it comes back as one consolidated response, and how long each round gets. Two working days is usually fair. If a director needs to see it, get them in the first review rather than the last.
3. Scope that grows quietly
A booking system added in week five. A members area that "would be good to have". Three more sector pages. Each is reasonable on its own, and each adds days. Growing the scope is fine as long as everyone agrees the date moves with it. The problem is only ever the pretending.
What a genuinely fast project looks like
Websites do get built in three or four weeks, and they are not necessarily worse. They tend to share a few traits:
- The content already exists and is signed off, or the site is small enough that it can be written in a couple of days.
- One decision maker who can approve things without a committee.
- A clear, contained scope agreed before anyone starts.
- No third parties to wait on, such as a booking platform, a stock feed or an external developer.
If you have a fixed deadline, an event or a rebrand, say so at the very first conversation. A build can be planned around a hard date. It cannot be rescued three weeks before one.
What you should be doing while we build
The best-run projects have the client working in parallel rather than waiting. During the build weeks, that means:
- Gathering photography, or booking a shoot. Real photos of your team, premises and work beat anything from a library, and a photographer usually needs a fortnight of notice.
- Writing or approving copy for the pages that are not yet drafted.
- Finding your domain and hosting logins, before launch day arrives and nobody knows who registered the domain in 2016.
- Deciding what happens after launch, including who keeps the site updated.
Why bespoke is not automatically slower
People assume a template is the fast route and a bespoke build is the slow one. In practice the gap is smaller than expected, because the template still has to be reshaped around your content, and reshaping something built for someone else can take longer than building the right thing.
Working on our own content management system removes another common delay, the one where a plugin conflict or an update breaks something two days before launch. Fewer moving parts means fewer surprises in the final week, which is when surprises hurt most.
Common questions
Can you build a website in a week?
Yes, for something small and single-purpose, with content ready and no approvals to chase. It is a different kind of project rather than a compressed version of the normal one, and it is worth being clear about the trade-offs before starting.
Why do quotes give a range instead of a date?
Because part of the timeline sits with the client. A good proposal will give a build duration and state what it depends on, usually content delivery and feedback turnaround. Once those are agreed, the date firms up.
Does the site have to launch all at once?
No. Phasing works well when there is a deadline. Launch the core pages, then add the sector pages, blog or booking system over the following weeks. Visitors get a finished site, and you get more time for the parts that need it.
What happens on launch day?
Redirects from old URLs go live, DNS points at the new site, forms are tested again on the live domain, analytics and Search Console are checked, and the sitemap is submitted. Then someone watches it for a few days, because that is when the small things surface.
Planning a build?
We will give you a schedule with real dates rather than a vague window, and tell you exactly which parts depend on you. Have a look at recent projects or tell us your deadline and we will say honestly whether it is achievable.