I get asked for a timeline before a client will even discuss scope, which is backwards, but I understand the instinct — everyone wants a number. So here’s the honest range based on what we’ve actually delivered, broken down by what’s really driving the timeline.
Simple brochure site: 3-6 weeks
5 to 10 pages, no custom functionality, standard contact forms, using an established theme framework rather than fully custom design. That includes discovery and content gathering, design, build, and a testing and revision round.
Mid-complexity business site: 6-10 weeks
10 to 20 pages, some custom design elements, a blog, maybe a basic booking or quote-request system. This is where most small-to-mid-size business redesigns land.
Complex site with custom functionality: 3-6 months
E-commerce with custom product logic, membership content, integrations with several external systems, custom-designed pages throughout. This can run longer if integrations involve poorly documented systems or scope grows mid-project.
Content readiness is the single biggest timeline factor
If you have final copy, images, and product details ready at kickoff, the build moves at the pace the estimate assumed. If you don’t, the timeline stretches to match how long it takes you to produce that content, not how long it takes to build the site. I’ve had projects with a clean 8-week estimate take 5 months because content approval sat in someone’s inbox for weeks between rounds.
How revisions are structured matters more than how many there are
A project with two well-organized, consolidated feedback rounds moves faster than one with five scattered rounds of “oh, one more thing” feedback trickling in over weeks. Gather all stakeholder feedback into one document per round rather than emailing changes individually.
Third-party dependencies add unpredictable time
Waiting on API credentials from a payment processor, waiting on a client’s IT team to update DNS records, waiting on a stock photography license — these sound small individually but are a recurring source of multi-day gaps in an otherwise fast-moving project.
The bottom line
If someone quotes you a redesign timeline without asking about your content readiness, your internal approval process, or what systems need to integrate, that timeline is a guess, not an estimate. Have your content mostly ready, identify every third-party system that needs to connect, and agree upfront on how feedback rounds will be consolidated, and most agencies can give you a genuinely reliable timeline.