Last updated: May 2026
You have been quoted four weeks by one agency and sixteen weeks by another for what sounds like the same project. The difference is not quality. It is process. Some agencies build in layers of approvals, meetings, and presentation decks that extend timelines without improving outcomes. Others move fast because their process has no unnecessary steps.
In brief: A professional brochure website takes four to eight weeks from brief to launch. A combined brand and website project takes six to eight weeks. E-commerce sites take eight to twelve weeks depending on product count and integrations. The timeline depends on complexity, feedback speed, and whether brand and website are designed together or separately.
The typical timeline
Week 1: Discovery. Understanding your business, your audience, your competitors, and your goals. This is not a formality. It is the foundation everything else is built on. Expect a conversation (not a questionnaire) that covers what your business does, who your customers are, what your competitors look like, and what success means for this project.
Week 2: Strategy and wireframes. Information architecture (what pages exist and how they connect), content structure (what goes on each page and in what order), and wireframes (structural layouts without visual design). This is where the strategic thinking happens. Skipping this step is the single most common reason projects go over time and over budget.
Weeks 2 to 4: Design. Visual design applied to the wireframes. You see real pages in real browsers, not static mockups in a PDF. Feedback is continuous. You react to working designs, not presentations. The design evolves through conversation, not formal revision rounds.
Weeks 3 to 6: Development. The designs are built into production code. On well-run projects, design and development overlap: early pages are being built while later pages are still being designed. This parallel workflow is what compresses a sixteen-week sequential process into six to eight weeks.
Week 5 to 7: Content, SEO, and testing. Final content is placed, metadata is configured, schema markup is added, analytics is connected, and the site is tested across devices and browsers. This phase is often rushed because earlier phases ran over time. Protecting it is essential.
Week 6 to 8: Launch. The site goes live. DNS is configured, SSL is verified, the sitemap is submitted to Google Search Console, and redirects from any previous site are put in place. A professional launch includes a post-launch check on day one and a performance review in the first week.
Why some projects take longer
Feedback delays are the most common reason projects run over time. A two-week design phase assumes you review and respond within two to three days. If reviews take a week, the two-week phase becomes four weeks. The studio cannot work while waiting for your input.
Scope changes extend timelines proportionally. Adding three pages to a five-page project is not a small change. It is a 60% increase in scope. If it happens mid-project, it pushes everything back. Professional studios communicate scope changes and their timeline impact before proceeding.
Separating brand and website doubles the timeline. A sequential process (four weeks for brand, then six weeks for website) takes ten weeks minimum, plus handoff time. An integrated process where both happen together takes six to eight weeks total. Read more about why integrated design is faster (/thinking/brand-website-designed-together).
Committee decision-making slows everything. One decision-maker gives feedback fast. Five stakeholders who all need to agree take five times longer. If multiple people need to approve design decisions, establish a single point of contact who has authority to make calls.
How to keep your project on time
Respond to design reviews within two to three working days. The studio's timeline assumes this cadence. Delays on your side cascade through every subsequent phase.
Make decisions, do not defer them. "Let's come back to the homepage later" means the homepage gets designed last, under time pressure, with the least strategic thinking. Address the hardest decisions first.
Provide content early. The most common bottleneck in web design is waiting for copy, images, and case studies from the client. If you do not have professional content ready, discuss copywriting as part of the project scope.
Nominate one decision-maker. Multiple approvers create conflicting feedback and decision paralysis. One person should have authority to approve designs and sign off on the final site.
Frequently asked questions
Can a website be built in two weeks?
A simple landing page or single-page site, yes. A multi-page business website with custom design, SEO foundations, and proper content, no. Two-week timelines for custom sites usually mean template customisation or skipped research and wireframing phases.
Why do some agencies quote twelve or more weeks?
Large agencies often have sequential processes with formal sign-off stages, internal reviews, and multiple handoffs between teams. Each adds time. A small studio with an integrated process can deliver the same quality in less time because there are fewer layers between you and the work.
What takes the longest in a web design project?
Client feedback and content provision. The design and development work is predictable. The variable is how quickly you respond to reviews and provide the text, images, and materials the studio needs. Prepare content in parallel with the design phase to keep things on track.
Does a more expensive project take longer?
Not necessarily. A £10,000 project may take the same six to eight weeks as a £5,000 project if the scope is similar. Higher cost usually reflects more pages, more complex features, or included brand identity, not a longer timeline.
How long does a brand identity project take without a website?
Three to four weeks is typical. This includes strategy, exploration, refinement, and delivery of all assets and guidelines. Logo-only projects can take two weeks.
Sources
- Pixelish, UK Website Pricing Guide 2026: https://www.pixelish.co.uk/cost-of-website-build/ (https://www.pixelish.co.uk/cost-of-website-build/)
- Design Box, Website Cost UK 2026: https://designbox.co.uk/how-much-does-a-website-cost-uk/ (https://designbox.co.uk/how-much-does-a-website-cost-uk/)