Working out how long a website takes to build depends on more than the number of pages. For most small businesses in London, a straightforward informational site takes 4–6 weeks, a site with contact forms and basic e-commerce takes 6–8 weeks, and a brand-plus-website project takes 8–12 weeks. But the real variable isn’t the design or build — it’s how quickly content, feedback and decisions come in from your side.
By Christopher Mollard, founder of J4G Design — Fulham, since 2017. Last updated 20 Aug 2026
How long does a small business website take to build in reality?
Realistic ranges for a professional build with proper discovery, design and testing:
- Small informational site (5 pages): 4–6 weeks
- Larger site with contact forms, dynamic content and integrations (10 pages): 6–8 weeks
- Site with basic e-commerce: 6–10 weeks
- Brand and website together: 8–12 weeks
These assume the client-side is responsive. If we’re waiting on copy and photography, add weeks accordingly. Most of the delays I see are on the client side — usually waiting for content, photography or feedback.
What actually eats time in a website build?
Design and development hours only account for maybe 60% of a project timeline. The rest is:
- Discovery + scope confirmation (~1 week) — understanding what success looks like and what’s actually in scope
- Waiting on client-side content — copy, photography, testimonials, product info. This is where most projects lose 2–3 weeks
- Iteration on concepts — usually one or two rounds of feedback, but sometimes stretches to four
- Third-party integrations — booking systems, payment gateways, CRM connectors. Each adds 3–5 days of setup and testing
- Content approval and legal checks — sometimes a two-week bottleneck at bigger organisations
If the materials are ready, I’m ready. If they’re not, we work in parallel where we can.
What are the four project milestones I use?
For most small-business builds, I break projects into four stages with payments tied to each:
- Getting started — initial setup, discovery, access to existing assets, back-end build
- Brand work complete (if in scope) — new brand implemented across the site
- MVP launch — the first version we both agree is good enough to go live, with a plan for what comes next
- MVP+1 — finished, polished, all the details addressed
That structure gets you a usable, better-than-current site sooner, with clear checkpoints for both of us. It’s more flexible if you find that there are some features you’d like to add to the scope during the build.
What speeds up a website build?
Three things reliably shorten timelines:
- Copy ready before the build starts — the biggest single accelerator. If you can hand over final copy on day one, you save 2–3 weeks.
- Photography sorted or scheduled — professional photos of your premises, team or products. Stock imagery is fine as a fallback but rarely as strong.
- A single decision-maker on the client side — someone who can approve concepts, copy and design decisions without a committee. Committees add weeks.
Committees don’t necessarily produce better decisions — they produce slower ones. On builds where there’s an owner making calls, we ship faster and cleaner.
What slows down a website build?
The main culprits, in order:
- Waiting for copy that doesn’t get written
- Feedback delivered as long emails instead of in a short call
- Late scope changes (“can we also add e-commerce?”)
- Third-party integrations that turn out to be more complex than the initial spec suggested
- Approval bottlenecks — legal, brand, senior management
If any of these apply, we surface them early rather than late.
Can I get a website built in two weeks?
Sometimes, yes. A simple landing page with your existing brand, no e-commerce, no complex integrations, and copy already written is realistically 5–7 working days from kickoff. This works well for event pages, product-launch landing pages, or holding sites during a rebrand.
What it doesn’t work for is a proper full-featured small business site. Skipping discovery and design consequences is how you end up with a site that needs replacing 18 months later.
What’s a realistic launch date if I sign next week?
If you sign next week, here’s what a typical timeline looks like:
- Weeks 1–2: Discovery + design concepts + kickoff
- Weeks 3–5: Build (assuming copy is ready by week 3)
- Weeks 5–6: Content input and iteration
- Week 6: Testing + client review
- Week 7: MVP launch
- Weeks 8–10: MVP+1 polish + additional pages
That’s 7 weeks to MVP, 10 weeks to fully finished. Add 1–2 weeks if brand work is also in scope. Add 2 weeks if copy isn’t ready by week 3.
If you’d like a realistic timeline for your specific project, send a couple of sentences about what you’re planning — contact page.