How long does a website take to build?

For the sites I build: a working preview in about 7 business days (up to 14 for larger builds), then launch within 7 business days of receiving your content. For a standard three-page site, that’s typically three to four weeks from first message to live, and most of that variation comes down to how quickly content arrives.

A website build has five stages, and only some of them are building:

• Brief (a day or two). What the business does, who the customers are, what the site needs to do.
• Preview (about 7 business days). A real, clickable homepage built from the brief, using placeholder photos that suit your industry.
• Feedback (depends on you). You look at the preview and tell me what to change.
• Content (depends on you). Your real photos, logo, text and any details for the other pages.
• Finish and launch (within 7 business days). Remaining pages, forms, SEO groundwork, testing on real phones, domain connection and go-live.

It’s almost never the building. It’s content. Writing about your own business is surprisingly hard, and gathering good photos takes time when you’re also running the business.

Two things help. First, start with what you have; your homepage text can be improved after launch. Second, take photos as you go: real photos of your work, your team and your space beat stock photography every time.

• More pages, or several different page types (services, projects, team, locations).
• Features like a content dashboard, an online store or automated documents.
• Moving from an existing site with many pages that need redirecting.
• Several people giving feedback, especially if they disagree.

A site built from a template can go live in a weekend, and that’s fine for some businesses. A hand-coded site takes longer because every page is built for your business: it loads faster, ranks better and is yours to keep. The preview-first approach means you see that work early, before you’ve committed anything.