“How long will it take?” is the second question every Medicine Hat business owner asks us, right after “how much?” The honest answer depends on a few factors, but the realistic ranges are tighter than most people expect — and most of the schedule is actually in the client’s hands, not the designer’s.
The realistic timelines
For a small business website, our typical timelines are:
- Single-page starter site: 1 – 2 weeks
- Multi-page business site (5–8 pages): 3 – 6 weeks
- E-commerce or booking site: 6 – 12 weeks
- Custom web application: 3 – 6 months
These are calendar weeks from kickoff to launch, not “person hours of work.” The work itself is faster — most of the time on the calendar is waiting on decisions, approvals, and content.
What a typical 4-week project looks like
To make this concrete, here’s how a standard multi-page business website usually unfolds:
Week 1 — Discovery and structure
- Kickoff meeting (60 – 90 minutes)
- Goals, audience, competitor review
- Site structure and page list agreed
- Content inventory (what exists, what’s missing)
Week 2 — Design
- Homepage design concept presented
- Inner page templates designed
- One round of revisions
- Final design sign-off
Week 3 — Build and content
- Designs built into a working website
- Your content placed
- Forms, integrations, analytics wired up
- First preview link shared
Week 4 — Review, polish, launch
- Final round of revisions
- Cross-device and cross-browser testing
- SEO basics, sitemap, search console setup
- Launch and post-launch check
That’s a clean run on a focused project. Add a week or two of buffer for real life.
What slows projects down (and how to prevent it)
In our experience, 90% of project delays are content-related. The single biggest schedule killer is waiting for copy, photos, or feedback from the client side. Specifically:
- Missing or unfinished copy. Decide upfront: are you writing the words, or is your designer? If it’s you, block out time before kickoff to actually do it.
- No photos or only stock photos. A short photoshoot — even just a half-day with a local photographer — adds enormous polish. Schedule it before week three.
- Slow approvals. Designers can do nothing while waiting for “I’ll review it this weekend” feedback that takes ten days.
- Scope changes mid-build. A redesign of “the website” turning into “and also a booking system, and also a member portal” three weeks in. Decide what’s in scope before signing.
- Too many decision-makers. If five partners need to weigh in on every revision, expect every revision to take a week.
What speeds projects up
The flip side. Clients who launch on time consistently:
- Have content ready, or commit to writing it on a schedule. Even rough drafts are fine.
- Make timely decisions. A 24-hour turnaround on feedback can shave a week off a four-week project.
- Designate a single approver. One person with sign-off authority. Others can advise, but only one signs off.
- Trust the designer’s expertise on visual decisions. Designers don’t tell clients how to run their plumbing business; clients can usually return the favour.
- Resist scope creep until launch. Make a “phase 2” list. Anything new goes there.
The realistic minimum
If absolutely everything aligns — clear scope, content ready on day one, fast approvals, no surprises — a focused multi-page website can launch in about 10 days. That’s the floor. We’ve done it. It requires the client to be at least as responsive as the designer, every single day.
If “10 days” sounds fast, remember: most of a four-week project is calendar time, not work time. Compress the calendar and the work compresses too.
The realistic maximum
On the other end, a project that drags can easily stretch to 12 – 16 weeks for the same scope. By then, the team has lost momentum, the original brief feels stale, and someone usually wants to “rethink the homepage.” This is the worst of both worlds — same money, much worse outcome.
What to expect after launch
Launch isn’t the end of the project, it’s the start of the website’s life. The first 30 days typically involve:
- Small tweaks based on real visitor behaviour
- Minor copy edits as your team uses the site
- Search engine indexing (Google takes a few weeks to fully crawl a new site)
- Initial monitoring of analytics and form submissions
This is exactly why most studios — including us — offer a 30-day post-launch support window included in the project price. (See our article on website maintenance for what comes after.)
Setting yourself up for success
Two practical things you can do today:
- Block 4 – 6 hours on your calendar over the next month, before you’ve even hired anyone. This is your “website time” — for content, decisions, photo selection, feedback. Designers can move at the speed of your time.
- Decide who the single approver will be. If it can’t be you, name them now and tell them.
If you’d like a realistic project plan tailored to your specific scope and timeline, book a free consultation. We’ll give you a written timeline with milestones — and we’ll be honest about what we can and can’t promise.
