The most common question web developers get asked is “how long does it take to design and build a website?”
The truth is, there is no right answer to this question.
Web development is a very complicated process. Many factors play a huge role in determining the time it takes to fully build a website.
The reason for that is because designing and actually building a website are two different things.
But we will try to give you a somewhat accurate answer based on a few factors. Let’s take a look at what those are.
The Number of People Working on the Project
Every website is essentially a project for the designer or developer. And numbers can oftentimes hasten the process. While this isn’t the most important factor in determining the time, it is one that needs to be taken into consideration.
It will take much longer to make if only a single person works on both backend and frontend. In contrast to that, a company with dozens of developers and designers will take much shorter.
But the main difference here is the price. A single designer/developer will charge much less than what a team of devs and developers would.
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The Type of Project
Websites vary in complexity. Some are much easier to make because they are much less complicated. Others can be extremely complex that could take months on end.
When it comes to figuring out how long it will take to build a website, you have to ask yourself what kind of website you want.
Is it a blog, a landing page, or an eCommerce store? And this is generally a good way to look at things. Blogs take much shorter to design and build. The time it takes to build a landing page depends on a few things. For starters, we have to take into consideration the complexity and amount of functionalities. But generally speaking, it comes somewhere in between.
And eCommerce stores are generally extremely complicated projects since you’re essentially opening a business. When it comes to building eCommerce websites, the emphasis on having a functional store outweighs the design aspect.
Designing an eCommerce store is probably the easiest of all tasks, but the backend needs, payment features, and other features related to the products could take months to develop.
Now that we’ve outlined the two most important aspects of figuring out how long it takes to build a website, let’s look at what other things you’ll need to be given an accurate answer.
· Figuring Out Your Needs
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The first step of the process involves going through the things that you want to have on your website.
Do you want to have a contact form, an “About Us” section, or perhaps a search option? Laying out exactly what your needs are to your developers and designers will make it easier for them to give you a precise answer.
When it comes to this part of the process, do know that it will take a week or two of going back and forth to come to the final answer. In this part of the process, you will regularly talk to the design and development team regarding your needs.
On stage on figuring out your needs, you also can consider creating a prototype to test your business idea. Read more here to get step-by-step recommendations on how to test the idea and increase project success.
If you’re looking for a much shorter process, then you will have to get in touch with a web design firm. You can read more about it here.
· Getting Started on the Design
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Once you’ve settled on what you need, it’s now time to start looking at the design itself. This is where the designers come into play.
If you’re going with a web design company, then chances are they will have dedicated people working on exactly this part. The designers will hear what you have to say and provide mockups of how your website might appear.
Take notice of the word “appear” as this is only the first of many changes that will happen through time. As time goes on, you might find inspiration from other sources and decide to change things up.
This is completely normal and the design team will even encourage you to do that. Since they want to make a website that you love, change is something that will eventually happen to the design.
Once you’ve “settled” on a mockup, then the design team will start working on the remaining elements such as the header, footer, and main content. After some time, the mockups will start to take shape and you can expect this to take anything from a week to three weeks.
· The Development Phase
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Now that you have a general understanding of how your website will look like, it’s now time to implement it into hard code.
You will need to give approval to the mockups before this process actually starts. Once you do give approval, then the design team will start working on it.
This part can take a lot of time. Not only does the design have to be fully implemented, but also the various features that make up the core of the website.
Agencies will give you a rough estimate of how long the development phase takes. The estimate is anything between a month and six months. This gives the agencies enough breathing room. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep in touch with them.
Ask for regular updates every week or two weeks.
· The Final Review
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So it’s been a couple of months and the agency is sending a final approval before your website goes live. This is the time to change anything that you don’t like or have a better alternative for it.
This part doesn’t take too long and the final review will be approved within a week or two.
In our experience, it’s better to speak up about anything you don’t like and find an alternative as it might cost you to do so once the website goes live.
Although many agencies offer up to three free changes to the website, not every agency shares this opinion.
Conclusion
Designing and building a website can take anything between a month and six months to make. It depends on what type of website you want, how many people will work on it, and various other factors. The more functionalities and features, the more time it will take for an agency to create the perfect website.
