A standard small business website takes 2 to 6 weeks to design, build and launch. A focused small studio can do it in 2 weeks; a freelancer typically takes 3-4; a full agency usually 8-12 because of discovery, workshops and internal reviews. The single biggest variable isn't the designer, it's how quickly you get them the content, photos and sign-off they need.
The four stages, honestly timed
1. Discovery (1–5 days)
A conversation about the business, the customers and the goals. A studio does this in a single call. An agency turns it into a two-week 'discovery phase' with workshops. Both can be worth it depending on the complexity of the project, but for a six-page business site, a call is enough.
2. Design (3–14 days)
The homepage direction and a couple of key inner pages. This is the stage where clients say yes, no, or 'move this bit', and it's usually the fastest to iterate. A good studio will show you the homepage before any invoice is due, so you can walk away if it's not right.
3. Build and content (5–14 days)
Turning the design into a working site, writing or refining copy, laying out all the inner pages. The bottleneck here is almost always the client, if your content and photos are ready, we're building; if they aren't, we're waiting.
4. Review, sign-off and launch (2–5 days)
You go through it, we tweak, we run pre-launch checks (SEO, performance, forms, tracking), we push it live and monitor. A quick client and a quick studio can compress this to a couple of days.
The real timelines by route
- DIY Wix / Squarespace: 1–2 weekends of dedicated work, or 4–8 weeks of evenings.
- Small studio (like us): 2 weeks, 3 if the content lags.
- Freelancer: 3–6 weeks, depending on their other jobs.
- Full agency: 8–14 weeks, the workshop phase alone is often 2–3 weeks.
What slows a project down
- Content that never arrives, the number-one cause of delays.
- Too many decision-makers with slightly different opinions.
- Feature creep, new sections added mid-build.
- Third-party integrations (payment providers, CRMs, booking systems) that turn out to need more setup than expected.
- Waiting on photography or professional shoots that get rescheduled.
How to keep it fast
- Gather your existing copy, photos and testimonials before the first call.
- Pick one decision-maker, with veto power.
- Book a specific review window in the calendar, not 'sometime next week'.
- Say what you actually want, not what you think is 'safe', it saves rounds of revision.
- Trust the studio on technical calls; question them freely on design and copy.
Where CAPVANE sits
We aim for 14 days from the discovery call to the site being live, and hit it consistently when the client is engaged. For clients who need a bit more time, or a bigger site than the standard six pages, we set an honest timeline upfront and stick to it.
If you need it done faster than two weeks, for an event, a launch, a rebrand, tell us. We can usually make it work.