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Quoted timescales are almost always production times, not delivery times. The difference between the two is you.
Actual production times
- Template business website, with content supplied: 3 to 10 working days.
- Bespoke business website: 3 to 6 weeks, a good half of which goes into design and feedback rounds.
- Template ecommerce website with a simple catalogue: 3 to 8 weeks depending on the number of products.
- Bespoke ecommerce or an online shop connected to management software: 3 to 6 months.
- Business application or customer portal: at least 4 months, often more.
These are days of actual work, not calendar days. A provider handling three clients at once necessarily spreads the work out.
The three causes of delay
When a project takes twice as long as quoted, the cause is almost always on this list and rarely technical.
1. Content
This is by far the leading cause. The website is built and structured, waiting for your text and photos. You are in your busy season, have no time to write six pages, and the project stays on hold for two months.
The solution fits in one sentence: decide who writes before you start. If it is you, block time in your diary as you would for a client meeting. If you cannot, have the work quoted and delegate it.
2. Approval by several people
A mockup sent to three partners returns with three conflicting opinions, two about a button’s colour. Each round costs a week in the schedule for two hours of actual work.
The solution: one person decides and brings feedback together. Everyone else gives their opinion to that person, not to the provider.
3. Additions along the way
‘While we’re at it, we could add online appointment booking.’ Said three weeks before delivery, that sentence adds a month. Every new component needs to be built, tested and connected to the rest.
The solution: write the idea down and put it in phase two. A working website that is live earns more than a perfect website arriving in six months.
The delay everyone forgets
For a new website, allow three to six months between launch and the first Google results. The website is immediately visible to people you give the address to, but its search presence takes time to build.
This changes how you plan. If you want visibility for your June peak season, the website needs to be live in January, not May. This is the one timescale no budget can make up for.
What a good schedule contains
A serious quote does not just give a delivery date; it sets milestones with what each person must provide and when. Scoping, mockup, approval, integration, content, acceptance testing and launch.
It also explains what happens if you do not supply things on time. That clause is not hostile: it protects both sides from a project getting stuck without anyone daring to say so.
Frequently asked questions
01Is a website in one week possible?
Yes, using a template with all content ready on day one. That is real, perfectly legitimate work. What is not possible in a week is a design built for your brand with text written specifically for you.
02Why has my website project dragged on for six months?
In the vast majority of cases, it is waiting for content. Ask your provider for an exact list of what they need from you, and treat it like a customer order with a deadline.
03How long before I appear on Google?
Indexing takes a few days to a few weeks. Ranking for competitive searches takes three to six months for a new domain, sometimes longer. This is the time to allow if you are targeting a season.
