Questions and answers
How long does it take to build a website?
A one-page site takes 2–3 weeks, a multi-page site 4–8 weeks. The most common cause of delay is not code, it is waiting for content from the client.
What happens in those weeks
The first week is scoping and structure: who should land on this site, what they should do, and in what order they see the content. There is no design and no code yet, and this is exactly where the decisions that matter most get made.
Weeks two and three are design and build. From the middle of this stage you see a working version at a test address and can click through it on your phone.
The final week is content, search optimisation, testing on different devices, and launch. On a multi-page site this stage grows in proportion to the number of pages.
What actually causes delays
Copy. If we agree that you write it and you start with four pages out of twelve, the project stops and stays stopped until the rest arrives. This is not a developer's excuse, it is the single most common reason sites miss their date.
Approval by committee. If three people sign off on the layout and each replies in a different week, two weeks disappear into waiting alone.
Scope changes mid-flight. Adding a shop to a brochure site halfway through is not one more page, it is a different project.
How to make it shorter
Have the content ready before we start. It does not need to be polished. It needs to be complete: what goes on each page, bullet points are fine.
Name one person who approves. They do not need to understand the technology. They need to be able to say yes without calling a meeting.
Collect the access details up front: domain, hosting, mailbox, Google Business Profile. Hunting for a domain password from six years ago can cost a week.
One thing to remember
The date depends on you more than on me. Complete content at the start shortens the project by exactly as much as you save on waiting.
Let us check it against your case.
Tell me when you need the site and what you already have. I will send a real date, or say plainly that I cannot make it.