Short answer: one to five weeks depending on size, counted from when you send your content, not from when you pay. That distinction is the whole article.
Realistic timelines
| Build | Time |
|---|---|
| One page | About a week |
| Five pages | About two weeks |
| Custom, booking or ordering, multi location | Three to five weeks |
Template shops advertise seven day delivery on a five page site. That is achievable because a theme is already built and your logo is being dropped into it. It is a different product, not a faster version of the same one.
What actually causes delays
It is almost never build time. In order of how often they stall a project:
1. Photos. The single most common hold up. Either they do not exist, or the ones that exist were taken by someone else and the business does not have the rights to them. Sorting this out honestly can add two weeks.
2. Text. Owners underestimate how hard it is to write about their own business. This is why writing is included from the Standard tier up: a first draft you correct is ten times faster than a blank page you fill.
3. Approvals. A build waiting on one person who is on holiday is a build that is not moving. Agree at the start who signs off.
4. Third party access. Domain logins nobody has, a booking tool the previous developer set up, a Google account tied to a former employee. Start looking for these on day one, not at launch.
5. New ideas mid build. Not a problem, just a cost. New pages and new features get quoted before they are built, so the number does not move without you agreeing to it.
What the schedule actually looks like
For a five page build:
- Day 1: short call, fixed price, scope written down
- Days 2 to 4: you send content, I draft the structure and the writing
- Days 5 to 8: design and build, you get a private link partway through
- Days 9 to 11: your revisions, twice round
- Day 12 onward: technical pass, then launch on your domain
The gaps are yours, not mine. A client who sends everything on day two launches in nine days. One who sends photos in week three launches in week four.
How to make it fast
- Gather what you have before we start: logo file, photos you own, current text, service list with prices
- Say plainly what you do not have, so it gets quoted rather than discovered late
- Name the one person who approves things
- Find your domain login now
Do those and a five page site is a two week job with no drama.
Rush work
Half the normal timeline costs 25 percent more, and the surcharge is for the disruption rather than the hours. It is genuinely possible for a one page site if your content is ready. It is not possible if the delay is photos, because no amount of money conjures photographs of your premises.
Want a date rather than a range? Send me your business name and what you have ready, and I will give you both a price and a launch day. Prices are on the pricing page.