How Long Does It Take to Build a Simple Website?

The time it takes to develop a website can vary greatly, ranging from 150 to 500 hours. This is due to the various stages of the website creation process, such as the Discovery Phase, Design Phase, Development Phase, and Website Improvement Phase. Most of these sites took less than 100 hours to code, and for the 133 websites that were sold as 40-hour projects, the total time spent was usually between 40 and 100 hours. A typical website will take at least 14 weeks from start to launch, including 3 weeks of discovery, 6 weeks of design, 3 weeks of initial development and 2 weeks of modifications.

As the heart of your website, your homepage design acts as a general template for the rest of your site when it comes to the themes, navigation, design and communication of your brand's main message. To simplify the discussion, let's look at the time it takes to create a typical “brochure” website without any advanced functionality; only six different page templates will be developed from custom web designs. An e-commerce website will take around 1000 hours to create, while a social media website can take 2000 hours or more. Wix has introduced a simple method to quickly and easily create websites without needing any coding knowledge.

The average time to create a website using WordPress is around 5 weeks or 200 hours, while creating a custom website takes 240 hours minimum. When you're about to embark on creating your own website, it's important to evaluate what your goals are for the website. To find out if the project is a “40 hour” project or not, it is first important to review the scope and requirements. If you're a small business looking to create a simple website that brings your message and brand online, a quick comparison and contrast of several smaller website development companies may be all you need to select one and start the process.

To conclude, expect a 6-8 page template website to take 40-100 hours to complete, and think twice before you start requesting changes or getting angry about minor imperfections. If you can't wait that long or don't have the budget to hire a professional website design company, you can go for do-it-yourself website development with tools like CMS Hub. Modern websites often use several programming languages, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. For a relatively simple website to be coded from scratch, an experienced programmer should expect to spend between four and six weeks of time on the project.

Ruby Jones
Ruby Jones

Devoted internet expert. A 14-year veteran journalist who later became an entrepreneur and designer is now a content specialist and imaginative visual storyteller in New South Wales, Australia.