The short answer
A website build takes as long as its slowest dependency, and that is rarely design or code. Content, approvals and access to accounts set most timelines. A clear brief, finished copy and one decision-maker shorten a build more than any extra developer.
The work is rarely the slow part
When a website project runs late, the design and development are seldom the cause. Those parts are planned, estimated and done by people whose job is to finish them. The delays come from the parts that depend on other people: the words, the photographs, the decisions and the logins.
So the honest answer to "how long will it take" is a list of dependencies, not a number of weeks. Each one can be fast or slow depending on how ready the business is.
The stages and what each depends on
A typical service business build moves through these stages:
- Brief and plan. Agreeing the pages, their purpose and the searches they answer. Depends on the business knowing what it sells and to whom.
- Content. Writing every page and gathering images. Depends on someone supplying facts, approving drafts and providing real photographs.
- Design. Layouts for each page type. Depends on decisions being made by one person, or a small group that agrees quickly.
- Build. Turning designs into a working site. Depends mostly on the builder, plus any third-party tools that need setting up.
- Checks and launch. Forms, redirects, tracking and testing. Depends on access to the domain, hosting and accounts.
The build stage is usually the most predictable. The content and approval stages are usually the least.
Where projects stall
The commonest stall is content. A project plan says "client to supply copy", and weeks pass. The second is approvals, especially when several people must agree and nobody has the final say. The third is access: the domain is registered to a former employee, or the hosting login is with an old agency who takes a fortnight to reply.
Each of these can be solved before the project starts, which is why our website design work begins by settling who writes, who approves and who holds each account.
How to shorten a build
If a business wants its site sooner, these help far more than adding developers:
- agree the page plan in writing before design starts
- name one person who makes final decisions
- hand over finished content, or pay for it to be written as part of the project
- gather logins for the domain, hosting, Analytics and Search Console at the start
- agree a launch date and work back from it
Reading a quoted timeline
When a quote gives a timeline, ask what it assumes. Does it assume content arrives in week two? Does it allow time for revisions? What happens if approval takes longer? A timeline that states its assumptions is far more useful than one that only states a date. Our answer on what drives the cost of a business website build covers the same questions for price.