Planning a new website?
This guide covers realistic timelines, costs and what each option actually delivers.
Need it live this week?
Launch48 delivers a complete site in 48 hours for $699, first month of maintenance included.
The stages and their real durations
Discovery and proposal: 2 days to 2 weeks. Compressed to zero by fixed-scope services, because there is nothing to negotiate.
Content gathering: 1 day to forever. The single biggest variable. This is your part, and it is where most projects die quietly.
Design: 3 days to 3 weeks. Template-based work starts here in hours. Custom design needs concepts, feedback and refinement.
Build: 2 days to 3 weeks. Faster than people expect. A five page site on a proven stack is genuinely a day of focused work.
Revisions: 1 day to 3 weeks. Scales with how many people give opinions. Two decision makers finish in days; a committee takes weeks.
Testing and launch: half a day to 3 days. Forms, mobile, speed, SSL, analytics, redirects. Never let this be skipped; it is where rushed builds fail.
How to genuinely halve your timeline
Assign one decision maker. Write your content before design starts, even roughly. Gather photos and logins in advance. Give feedback in one consolidated round rather than a trickle. Agree the page list and do not add to it mid project. Do these five and almost any provider delivers in half their usual window.
What cannot be compressed
Ecommerce configuration and testing. Complex integrations with bookings, CRMs or inventory. Custom brand identity work. Content that requires research, interviews or a photo shoot. Migration of a large site with hundreds of URLs. Pressuring a provider to compress these produces a launch you will spend months repairing.
When fixed scope is the right answer
If your website's job is to explain your services, prove you are credible and let people contact you, a fixed-scope build does that in 48 hours because the shape of the problem is already known. Our Launch48 publishes the whole clock: kickoff at hour zero, design draft at hour eight, staging at hour 24, revisions at 36, security and backups at 44, live at 48.
Frequently asked questions
Why do agencies quote eight weeks for a five page site? Because their timeline includes queue position, strategy, custom design and multiple approval rounds, not eight weeks of building. It is not padding, it is a different product.
Can I pay to jump the queue? Many agencies offer rush pricing. You are buying priority, not speed of work, so weigh it against a fixed-scope provider who has no queue by design.
What delays projects most? Client content, every time. It is not close.
Does a faster build mean lower quality? Only if the scope was not fixed. Speed from process is fine; speed from skipping testing is not.
Need a website, not a six-week project?
Launch48 delivers a complete five-page business website in 48 hours for $699 flat, mobile-ready, secure and fast at launch, with your first month of maintenance included.