The short answer
A straightforward small business website takes one to three weeks of actual working time. Most UK agencies quote six to twelve weeks. The difference is rarely the building. It is waiting.
Understanding where the waiting comes from is the difference between a site that goes live this month and one still unfinished at Christmas.
By type of site
Both columns can be honest at once. Agencies run several projects in parallel, so your two weeks of work is spread across eight weeks of calendar. That is not dishonesty, it is how the model works.
Do not ask how long it takes. Ask what the longest gap will be between you approving something and seeing the next version. That number tells you far more about your launch date.
What actually causes the delay
Content, almost every time
The single biggest cause of a stalled website is a quote that said "client to supply content". You are busy running a business, writing eight pages of copy is nobody's idea of an evening, and the project sits waiting on you for weeks.
If the words are written for you, that entire delay disappears, and if you would rather write them yourself here is a method that works. Worth asking about before you sign anything.
Photographs
The second most common hold up, for the same reason. Sites wait months for photos that were never going to get taken. Phone photos are fine. A live site with imperfect pictures beats a perfect site that does not exist.
Review rounds with no deadline
Two rounds of feedback with a clear date each is quick. Open ended feedback from four people in the business, arriving over three weeks, is how a project loses a month.
Domain and hosting access
A site can be finished and still not live because nobody can find the login for a domain registered six years ago by someone who has left. Sort this at the start, not the end.
How to make it fast
- Pick someone who writes the copy. This removes the biggest single delay before it happens
- Give feedback in one go. Collect everyone's comments, then send one list, rather than a message a day for a fortnight
- Decide who signs it off. One person. Design by committee doubles timescales and rarely improves the result
- Find your domain login in week one, not the day before launch
- Launch, then refine. A live site earning enquiries while you tweak beats a perfect site nobody can see
Most of our sites are live in about three working days. Not because we rush, but because we write the copy, we source images if you have none, and there is only ever one round of changes to wait on. The process is here.
What happens after it goes live
Launch day is not the end, and it helps to know the shape of what follows.
- Days one to seven: Google finds and indexes the site. Search your business name to check
- Weeks two to six: you start ranking for your own name and for long, specific phrases
- Months two to six: more competitive local terms begin to move, assuming your Google Business Profile is set up properly
- Ongoing: content changes, seasonal updates, new services added
If nothing is appearing at all, this guide walks through why.
That last line is worth checking before you commit to anyone. Find out what a small change costs after launch. If updating your opening hours is billed hourly, your site will slowly go out of date, and an out of date site quietly costs you work.
If you want a realistic date for your own project rather than a general range, tell us what you need and we will give you one, along with what would have to happen to hit it.