How Long Does It Take to Build a Website? [Project Timeline Guide]

A standard business website takes 4–8 weeks to build. E-commerce sites take 6–16 weeks, and custom web applications take 3–6 months. The biggest variable isn't the developer — it's how quickly you can provide content and feedback.

If someone tells you they can build a professional business website in a week, they're either cutting corners or they're not asking the right questions about your business. Good web development has phases, and each one exists for a reason.

• Landing page: 1–2 weeks. Single page, focused message, fast turnaround.
• Business website (5–10 pages): 4–8 weeks. This is the sweet spot for most NZ small businesses.
• Corporate website (15–30 pages): 6–10 weeks. More pages means more content, more design variations, more stakeholder reviews.
• E-commerce (Shopify): 6–8 weeks. Platform does the heavy lifting; time goes into design and product setup.
• Custom e-commerce: 8–16 weeks. Full control, but more development time for custom features.
• Web application / SaaS MVP: 3–6 months. Complex functionality, user management, testing cycles.

A solid web project follows a structured process. Here's what each phase involves and roughly how long it takes:

• Discovery and strategy (1–2 weeks): Defining goals, researching competitors, planning site structure and content. This is where good developers differentiate themselves — they ask about your business, not just your colour preferences.
• Design (2–4 weeks): Wireframes, then visual design. Tools like Figma allow you to review and comment on designs in real time. You'll typically see 1–2 design concepts for key pages before development starts.
• Development (4–10 weeks): Building the actual site. Coding, CMS setup, integrations, responsive design. This is the longest phase for complex projects.
• Content (ongoing): Ideally runs parallel to design and development. The sooner your content is ready, the faster the project moves.
• Testing and launch (1 week): Cross-device testing, form testing, link checks, performance optimisation using tools like PageSpeed Insights, then go-live.

In our experience, these are the top four reasons web projects run late:

1. Slow feedback. Every round of feedback that takes a week instead of a day adds a week to your timeline. Simple maths.
2. Missing content. Design is done, development is ready, but the text isn't written yet. This is the number one delay we see.
3. Scope creep. "Can we also add a booking system?" mid-project changes the timeline. New features need to be scoped, designed, built, and tested.
4. Too many decision-makers. When four people need to approve a homepage design, it takes four times as long.

Four practical things you can do:

1. Have all content ready before development starts. Text, images, logos, brand guidelines. The more you have prepared, the faster the build.
2. Appoint one decision-maker. Internal debates are fine, but feedback should come through a single point of contact.
3. Give feedback promptly. Set a 48-hour turnaround rule for review rounds. Stick to it.
4. Launch an MVP first. Get the core site live, then add features based on real usage data. Perfect is the enemy of launched.