The most common answer you'll hear is "4 to 8 weeks." The honest answer is: it depends almost entirely on you.
The technical work is usually the fastest part of any web project. Design and development on a typical small business site takes 2 to 3 weeks. What takes longer is decisions, content, and feedback cycles.
The real timeline breakdown
Week 1: Brief and design. We gather all the information we need, understand the business and its customers, and produce the first design concepts. This phase moves as fast as you can respond to questions.
Week 2: Design refinement and approval. We refine based on your feedback until you're happy with the direction. One or two rounds of feedback here is normal. Endless revision cycles are usually a sign that the brief wasn't detailed enough at the start.
Week 3: Development. The approved design becomes a working website. For most projects this is the most predictable phase: we know what we're building and we build it.
Week 4: Content, testing, and launch. Pages need real content: copy, photos, contact details. The site is tested across devices and browsers. Final changes are made. Then it launches.
Four weeks is achievable for a focused project where decisions happen promptly and content is ready early.
What makes projects take longer
Content not being ready. This is the most common delay by far. We can write copy for you, but if you're providing it, have it ready before the project starts. Missing photos, incomplete service descriptions, and "I'll get you that later" items all add up.
Unclear decision-making. Every project has moments where choices need to be made: design direction, page structure, what to include. Projects move faster when one person is empowered to make those calls.
Scope expanding mid-project. It's natural to think of new things you want as the project comes together. But every addition has a cost. A clear scope at the start -- and discipline about sticking to it -- keeps things on track.
Too many reviewers. If five people need to sign off on every decision, every decision takes five times as long. Keep the feedback loop tight.
How to set your project up to move fast
- Have your content (copy and photos) ready before kickoff, or budget for us to write it
- Nominate one person to make decisions and give feedback
- Respond to questions within a day or two
- Give clear, specific feedback rather than "something feels off"
When a client does all of this, four weeks is very achievable. When they don't, eight weeks or more is typical -- and that's not the designer's fault.
A note on tight deadlines
If you have a real deadline (a product launch, a trade show, a funding announcement), tell us upfront. We can often prioritize and accommodate genuine constraints. What we can't do is compress a four-week project into one week without compromising quality.
Tell us the real date. We'll tell you honestly what's achievable.