Guides
How long does it take to build a website?
Between 2 and 12 weeks depending on the type of site. But that isn't the useful number: what stretches projects is almost never the development. It's the content, the approvals and the decisions nobody makes.
Real timelines by project type
| Type | Typical timeline | With everything ready on your side |
|---|---|---|
| One-page landing | 2 – 3 weeks | 1 week |
| Corporate site (4–6 pages) | 4 – 6 weeks | 2 – 3 weeks |
| Online store | 8 – 12 weeks | 5 – 6 weeks |
| Redesign | 3 – 5 weeks | 2 weeks |
Look at that last column. The difference between the two isn't how fast the team works: it's how much of the project is spent waiting on you.
Where the time actually goes
A typical five-week corporate site breaks down roughly like this:
- Discovery and structure — 3 to 5 days. Which pages, what each one says, what it has to achieve.
- Design — 1 to 2 weeks, rounds of changes included.
- Development — 1 to 2 weeks.
- Content — variable, and it's the one in charge. If the copy and the photos are ready it adds nothing. If they aren't, it can add a month.
- Review and launch — 3 to 5 days.
The number one cause of delay in web projects isn't technical: it's waiting for the client's copy and photos.
The four things that depend on you
- Having the content before starting. Copy for each section, photos, a high-resolution logo, contact details. If you don't have them, decide that at the start and commission the writing — don't leave it for "when we get there".
- Naming who approves. One person. A project where three partners give separate, contradictory opinions can double the timeline.
- Replying quickly during the rounds. If each review takes a week to come back, a five-week project becomes a nine-week one without anyone having worked more.
- Handing over the access in time. Domain, hosting, social, analytics. Asking for them on the last day is a classic that costs days.
What stretches it with nobody at fault
- Scope changes halfway through. "While we're at it, let's add…" Each one is legitimate, and each one moves the date.
- Third-party integrations. Depending on a payment gateway or an inventory system introduces timings nobody on the team controls.
- Approving the design and then wanting to change it. Redoing design once development has started costs double.
- Photography. If a shoot has to be produced, book it weeks ahead.
Can it be sped up?
Yes, on three honest conditions:
- By cutting scope, not by compressing the work. Launching with three pages and adding the rest later is the healthy way.
- With the content 100% ready on day one.
- By paying for the rush. Reshuffling a team's calendar has a cost.
Be wary of anyone promising a complete online store in a week. Either they're using an unadapted template, or they're going to hand over something half-done that you'll end up rebuilding.
One recommendation that saves months
Launch sooner with less. A three-page site published in two weeks starts bringing you visits while you work on the rest. A twelve-page one that ships in three months brought you nothing for three months.
And in SEO, time compounds: a page that's been live for six months ranks better than an identical one published yesterday. Launching sooner isn't only arriving sooner — it's starting the clock that actually matters sooner. That clock has its own budget, separate from the site's: how much SEO costs in Colombia.
If you're still deciding on scope, look at the ranges in how much a website costs in Colombia or tell me your case and I'll give you the schedule on the first call.
The timelines above are the ones I work to, and they're the same ones you'll see in web design in Cartagena, in Barranquilla and in Bogotá, with the price next to each delivery. The detail of what happens on each of those days is in web design.