“How long until it’s ready?” The answer you usually get is “two weeks”. The reality is more often six.
Not because developers lie — but because they only count their own part.
Realistic timelines
One-page website: 3–7 days
Presentation website, 5–8 pages: 2–4 weeks
Online store: 4–8 weeks
Website with a custom system: 2–4 months
That is if everything goes normally.
Where the time goes
Agreement and structure — 2–5 days. What the website will have, how many pages, what matters most.
Design — 3–10 days. Plus time for your feedback.
Development — 5–15 days. Turning the design into a working website.
Adding the content — this is where the gap is. See below.
Testing — 2–3 days. Browsers, phones, forms.
The most common reason for delays
The content. In almost every project that ran late, the wait was for texts and photos from the client.
The developer finished their part in two weeks. Then they waited three weeks for service descriptions, photos of the work and contact details.
Prepare it in advance — that is the biggest thing you can do for the timeline.
The second reason: changes along the way
“Can we add one more page?” Of course — but it isn’t free in terms of time.
Three requests like that push the project back by a week. That is why it is good to agree the structure at the start and stick to it.
The third: approvals
If three people decide on the design and one of them is on holiday — the project stands still.
Appoint one person who makes the decisions. That alone shortens the timeline.
What you can prepare before it starts
- Texts for each page (or at least the main points)
- A high-resolution logo
- Photos — real ones, of your work
- A list of services with short descriptions
- Accurate contact details and opening hours
- The domain, if you have one
With this ready, the timeline gets a third shorter.
The question worth asking
Not “how long until it’s ready”, but “what do you need from me, and when”.
A developer with a clear answer to that usually has a clear process too.
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