How long a site takes to build: real timelines from a landing page to a store and what derails them

Why the timelines quoted are so different

One contractor promises a site in a week, another quotes three months for the same request. Both can be honest: the first means a template with a logo swap, the second a full build with analytics and content. To compare offers, you need to understand which stages make up the timeline and what can actually be compressed.

Real timelines by site type

• A template landing page — 3–7 days.
• A custom landing page — 2–4 weeks (prototype, text, design, markup).
• A services site / brochure — 3–6 weeks.
• A corporate site — 1.5–3 months.
• An online store — 2–4 months (with 1C and delivery integrations — closer to the upper bound).
• A portal, service, personal accounts — from 3–6 months.

These are timelines at a normal pace of approvals. How they relate to the budget — see the breakdown of website costs in 2026.

Stages and their duration (using a corporate site as an example)

1. Analysis and the technical spec — 1–2 weeks. Who your audience is, the structure, semantics, prototypes of key pages.
2. Design — 2–4 weeks: concept, approval, the remaining pages.
3. Markup and development — 3–6 weeks: frontend, admin panel, integrations.
4. Filling with content — 1–3 weeks, if the content is ready (spoiler: usually it is not — more on that below).
5. Testing and launch — 1 week: checking on devices, forms, speed, backups, analytics.

What actually derails timelines

In our experience, the main cause of delays is not the developers but downtime on the client’s side:

• Content. Texts “we’ll send them any day now” delay launch by months. The fix: write in parallel with the design or order the texts from the contractor.
• Approvals. The design sits “for review” with the director for a week — plus a week to the timeline. Appoint one person responsible with decision-making authority.
• Edits in circles — “show it in blue too”, then “put it back”. Cured by a prototype and locking edits into iterations.
• Scope creep on the fly: “since we’re at it, let’s add a personal account” — that is not an edit, it is a new project inside the project.
• Access and technical dependencies: the domain is with a vanished freelancer, the 1C specialist is on vacation, the acquiring paperwork takes three weeks.

How to speed up launch without losing quality

1. Launch in stages: the core of the site first, the blog and extra sections as a second release. The site starts working and bringing leads sooner.
2. Prepare the content in advance — before design starts.
3. Assign someone responsible with the authority to make decisions in 1–2 days.
4. Gather the access (domain, hosting, 1C, CRM) before work begins.

Careful: “a site in 3 days”

A promise to build a full site in a few days means one of two things: a template not adapted to your business, or work without analysis and testing. For testing a hypothesis — fine. For a company’s main site — you get a product you will have to redo. The stingy pay twice, the hasty three times.

Conclusion

Real timelines: a landing page — 2–4 weeks, a services site — up to a month and a half, a corporate site — 2–3 months, a store — 2–4 months. Half the success on timelines is on the client’s side: ready content, fast approvals, gathered access. We will name an exact timeline for your task with a week-by-week plan — write to us.