How long do different types of website take?
Timelines scale with complexity. Simple sites using an existing template can launch within a few weeks, while bespoke designs, ecommerce and custom functionality need more design, development and testing time. The table shows typical UK timelines, assuming content and feedback arrive on schedule.
Our website development service page explains how we plan and run projects of each size.
| Type of website | Typical timeline | What takes the time |
|---|---|---|
| Template-based starter site | 1–3 weeks | Set-up, content entry, basic testing |
| Small business site | 4–8 weeks | Custom design, content, testing |
| Custom WordPress site | 4–8 weeks | Bespoke theme, editor set-up, training |
| Ecommerce site | 6–12 weeks | Products, payments, shipping, legal pages |
| Bespoke corporate site | 2–4 months | Stakeholders, larger sitemap, integrations |
| Web application | 3–6+ months | Specification, custom logic, security, testing |
Indicative UK market timelines, not a Freehand HQ commitment. Your schedule depends on scope, content and approvals.
What are the phases of a website project?
Most website projects follow five phases: discovery and planning, design, development, testing, and launch. Each phase ends with something you review and approve, which keeps the project on track. Discovery and content preparation are the phases most often rushed, and they are usually the main reason later phases overrun.
Phases often overlap: development can start on agreed templates while later pages are still in design. For a typical small business site, discovery and design together take a few weeks, and development and testing take the rest.
- Discovery and planning: goals, audience, sitemap, features and content plan.
- Design: page designs for mobile and desktop, with review rounds.
- Development: building templates, features and integrations on a staging site.
- Testing: devices, browsers, accessibility, speed, forms and security.
- Launch: go-live, redirects, Search Console set-up and training.
What causes website projects to be delayed?
The most common cause of delay is content: copy, images and product data arriving late. Other causes are slow feedback, too many decision-makers, scope changes after design sign-off, waiting for third-party accounts or access, and underestimating the work of moving content from an old site. Most delays are avoidable with planning.
- Late content: start writing before design begins.
- Slow approvals: agree one decision-maker and feedback deadlines.
- Scope creep: log new ideas for phase two instead of adding them mid-build.
- Access and accounts: gather domain, hosting, payment and analytics logins early.
- Migration surprises: audit old content and URLs at the start.
How can you speed up a website build?
The fastest projects have a clear brief, content ready before design starts, one decision-maker and a fixed scope for launch. Using a proven platform such as WordPress rather than building everything from scratch also saves time. Launching a focused first version, then adding features later, is often quicker and less risky.
If you need to be live quickly for a campaign, a single landing page can often launch in 1–3 weeks while the full site is built. Our guide to WordPress vs a custom website explains how platform choice affects timelines.
Does a website redesign take less time than a new site?
Not always. A redesign can reuse content and structure, which saves planning time, but it adds work: auditing existing pages, mapping old URLs to new ones with 301 redirects and protecting search rankings. For most businesses a redesign takes a similar time to a new build of the same size.
Our website redesign checklist lists the steps that protect traffic during a redesign.
What should you prepare before the project starts?
Before kickoff, prepare a short brief, a list of pages, your logo and brand guidelines, examples of sites you like, draft copy for key pages, good photography, and access to your domain and any existing hosting. Having these ready can cut weeks off a typical timeline and makes quotes more accurate.
- Business goals and the main action you want visitors to take.
- A rough sitemap and any must-have features.
- Brand assets: logo files, colours, fonts.
- Draft copy and photos for the most important pages.
- Logins for domain, hosting, analytics and Google Business Profile.
- A realistic budget range. See website design costs in the UK.
What happens after a website launches?
Launch is the start, not the finish. In the first few weeks you should check Google Search Console for indexing errors, confirm redirects and forms work, monitor speed, and fix any issues visitors report. After that, a website needs regular software updates, backups and content reviews to stay secure and useful.
- Submit the XML sitemap and check indexing in Google Search Console.
- Test every form and confirm enquiries arrive.
- Check old URLs redirect correctly if the site replaced an old one.
- Review analytics after a few weeks to see which pages bring enquiries.
- Agree who applies updates and backups. Our website maintenance plans cover this.