There's no number of weeks that works for every website.
A simple page with five sections, content ready to go and one person making the decisions can move very quickly.
A website with dozens of pages, several languages, a shop or custom integrations is a completely different project.
So when someone asks how long it takes to build a website, I'd ask something else first:
what needs to be built, and what do we already have ready to start with?
What changes the timeline the most
Being clear about what we're building
This is one of the biggest factors in the schedule.
If from the start we understand:
- what the website needs to achieve;
- who it's for;
- which services or products need explaining;
- and what sets the business apart;
we can make decisions about structure, content and design without constantly reopening things that seemed settled.
When those answers turn up halfway through the project, going back is only to be expected.
Content
Design and development can get a long way, but a website can't be finished if we still don't know what it needs to say.
The timeline changes quite a bit depending on whether:
- the copy already exists;
- it needs organising;
- it needs writing from scratch;
- the photos are ready;
- or some of the material is still pending.
That's why it's worth deciding early on who's responsible for what.
How many page types there are
The total number of URLs matters less than you'd think.
Twenty pages that share a similar structure can be simpler than six completely different ones.
What usually adds work is having to design new page types: a home page, a service page, a project, a location, a guide, a product page.
Each one needs structure, content, design and review.
Features and integrations
A simple contact form isn't the same amount of work as:
- bookings;
- a private area;
- a configurator;
- a CRM connection;
- payments;
- automations;
- or logic built specifically for the business.
It's not just the development that grows here.
So does the testing needed before launch.
An online shop
Ecommerce involves things a corporate website doesn't have.
Products. Variants. Payments. Shipping. Emails. Policies. Order management.
And the whole journey from the moment someone arrives to the moment they buy.
The technology can be ready quickly, but the project also depends on all that information being ready and reviewed.
Languages
Adding a language isn't just a matter of duplicating pages.
The content has to be adapted, and the navigation, metadata and links between versions need reviewing.
And if the website also has a search strategy in several languages, each version needs its own review.
Revisions
This factor sometimes affects the timeline more than development does.
If feedback on a revision comes back in two days, the project keeps moving.
If it comes back two weeks later, the timeline shifts by two weeks.
Who makes the decisions matters too.
Hearing several opinions isn't a problem.
Not knowing who has the final say can turn every revision into another round.
Two real projects with different timelines
Two of our own examples are more useful than making up an average.
For Somos Focus Media, the website was ready to launch in around two weeks, revisions included.
We were starting from an identity and tone of voice that were already fairly clear. We began with a meeting and a questionnaire, and that let us make decisions quickly.
For El Niu, the process took four weeks, again including revisions.
In that case there was a lot of information to organise about how they work, and we needed to find a tone that could explain the project to parents without oversimplifying its philosophy.
Two weeks isn't our standard timeline.
Neither is five.
They're two different projects with different starting points.
A website with ecommerce, more languages, many page types or custom development may need considerably longer.
The real timeline becomes clear once we understand the scope.
What you can do so it doesn't drag on unnecessarily
A few things help a lot:
- Explain the goal clearly at the start. What the website needs to achieve, and for whom.
- Sort out early who's preparing the content. Copy, photos, products and any other material needed.
- Have one person responsible for decisions.
- Give specific feedback. What to change and why, rather than opening up a whole new direction in every revision.
- Separate the launch from what comes later. A feature that can arrive in two months' time doesn't need to hold up the whole website today.
Moving quickly isn't about skipping steps.
It's about avoiding work that later has to be undone.
If you'd like to see how we organise a project from first contact to launch, take a look at our process.
And if what you're trying to work out isn't the time but the investment, we cover that separately in how much a custom website costs.
We write about decisions that come up in real projects: how to structure a website, how to capture demand and when technology can simplify a business.