Website Design and Development Timeline: A Complex Look
This guide will find an extensive solution to what amount of time it requires to plan and foster a site. We’ll take a gander at the breakdown of the plan and improvement time by the best website design type;
- What factors impact the web development timeline;
- How to streamline web development and design process;
- And more!
Our article will be beneficial for startup founders, serial entrepreneurs, and product managers.
Let’s get straight to the point.
How Much Time Is Required to Best Website Design and Build a Website?
The time it takes to develop a website ranges from 200 to 600 hours.
The website-building process will go through various stages if you are getting it built by a technical partner. The project discovery phase, design phase, development phase, and website improvements phase.
And all of them take their dedicated time on an iterative basis.
Here is an estimate of the average time to create a website as far as designing and development are concerned.
| Type | Required hours | ||
| Design | Development | Total | |
| Landing Page | 50 | 60 | 110 |
| Corporate site | 80 | 100 | 180 |
| Simple Web App | 150 | 600 | 750 |
| Average Web App | 250 | 1200 | 1450 |
| Complex Web App | 400 | 1800 | 2200 |
As listed above, there are websites and web apps. Both of these vary based on a number of factors. Choosing between a simple website and a web app depends upon your target audience.
A basic website and landing pages take less time as the number of features in these is less.
On the other hand, web apps such as YouTube or SaaS platforms like Canva take more time as they are packed with top-end features. Moreover, web apps have additional functionality as compared to websites.
Also, the development and design process for these projects is more complex than that of a basic HTML and CSS website.
Let’s take a look at a detailed overview of pricing factors.
Factors That Influence Average Time to Create a Website
The average hours to build a website mostly depend on 3 factors:
- Business goals to achieve;
- The complexity of the concept;
- and The level of a development team;
Let’s take a look at the aspects that affect the average time to create a website from scratch.
Factor 1. The goal of a Website
The key point, that defines the web development timeline is the goal of a future website. Let’s find out more about options.
| Goal | Description |
| To launch marketing | The core motive of a web app is to provide the user with the required utility by interacting with it. Web apps can easily run on any browser and are easy to maintain. They are cross-browser-friendly. Hence, web apps can take more time to build. Since the objective is to create a custom website, there will be a ton of web design elements and features that require a huge amount of time. For instance, Google Docs is a web app that allows you to edit, share and download docs.YouTube allows you to watch, save, download, and upload videos. Udemy has a plethora of courses that you can take and learn. For such web apps, you’ll need to partner up with a web development team that has at least one web designer in their team. They will take care of the user experience, and user interface, for example for a homepage, and other factors that affect how the website looks. These web apps take months and plenty of UX redesign iterations to create as they have more features and require more user interaction. There are mockups, wireframes, and a lot of revisions. Sometimes, it also becomes costly for a small business. |
| To launch a web product | The core motive of a web app is to provide the user with the required utility by interacting with it. Web apps can easily run on any browser and are easy to maintain. They are cross-browser-friendly. Hence, web apps can take more time to build. Since the objective is to create a custom website, there will be a ton of web design elements and features that require a huge amount of time. For instance, Google Docs is a web app that allows you to edit, share and download docs.YouTube allows you to watch, save, download, and upload videos. Udemy has a plethora of courses that you can take and learn. For such web apps, you’ll need to partner up with a web development team that has at least one web designer in their team. They will take care of the user experience, and user interface, for example for a homepage, and other factors that affect how the website looks. These web apps take months and plenty of UX redesign iterations to create as they have more features and require more user interaction. There are mockups, wireframes, and a lot of revisions. Sometimes, it also becomes costly for a small business. |
The business goals of the website determine the business logic. And the business logic determines the complexity of web development.
Let’s understand this relationship.
Factor 2. The Complexity of Business Logic
The second critical factor that affects the web development timeline is the complexity of business logic. In other words, how many roles and features your web project will have?
The more complex the logic is, the more time-consuming and costly the website project becomes.
Now, the complexity of the site or a web app is dependent on various components.
Component 1. Number of Roles
The number of roles in a website or a web app highly affects the cost and time needed to build it.
| Website | Web application |
| On the other hand, a web app can have multiple roles. For instance, Trello, a work management tool, can be used by various users at the same time. Users have different access rights, which means multiple roles.An app like Trello that has multiple roles can take around 4 months. | On the other hand, a web app can have multiple roles. For instance, Trello, a work management tool, can be used by various users at the same time. Users have different access rights, which means multiple roles. An app like Trello that has multiple roles can take around 4 months. |
Component 2. Number of Features
If any factor significantly affects the time taken to build a site, then it is the number of features it has.
| Website | Web application |
| Web apps are mostly eCommerce apps, eLearning apps, Social networks, or management tools. These web apps are integrated with special features that elevate the cost and time to build the app. For example, AirBnb is a web app that has features like house listings, location, search functions, payment gateways, etc. All of these are top-end features that increase the cost of building the app. A web app like AirBnB may take around 6 months to complete.GetReinvented is an online fitness platform developed by Spdload. The web app was developed in 1450 hours.It has various features like video on demand, payment via PayPal and Braintree, and many more! | Web apps are mostly eCommerce apps, eLearning apps, Social networks, or management tools. These web apps are integrated with special features that elevate the cost and time to build the app. For example, AirBnb is a web app that has features like house listings, location, search functions, payment gateways, etc. All of these are top-end features that increase the cost of building the app. A web app like AirBnB may take around 6 months to complete.GetReinvented is an online fitness platform developed by Spdload. The web app was developed in 1450 hours. It has various features like video on demand, payment via PayPal and Braintree, and many more! |
Component 3. Complexity of Features
The answer to how long it takes to build a website is not solely dependent on the number of features. It also depends on how complex the feature is.
Here are some factors that increase the complexity of the feature.
| Amount of data to use | The number of integrations |
| Integration in a web app or a site can be of various types. For instance, in the case of eCommerce web apps, you need to integrate payment gateways for accepting payments. The more the number of gateways, the more complex the app will be. Thus, more will be the development time. Maps integrations are required in a corporate site to help the clients find the offices easily. This will again up the time needed to develop a site.Hence, the complexity of the feature affects the answer to how long it takes to design a website. | Integration in a web app or a site can be of various types. For instance, in the case of eCommerce web apps, you need to integrate payment gateways for accepting payments. The more the number of gateways, the more complex the app will be. Thus, more will be the development time. Maps integrations are required in a corporate site to help the clients find the offices easily. This will again up the time needed to develop a site. Hence, the complexity of the feature affects the answer to how long it takes to design a website. |
Another important point that complements the relationship between business goals and business logic is the level of the team.
Because the level of designers and developers determines the ability to bring your website to life. In addition, sets the time and money limits.
Let’s look at the details.
Factor 3. The Level of the Team Involved
The expertise of the team you have also affected the time required to build a site. No matter if you are building a site or a web app, you will need the following members of your team:
- Project manager
- Business analyst
- UX/UI designer
- Markup developer
- Backend web developer
- Frontend web developer
- QA Tester
- Marketing manager (on-demand)
The website-building process goes through various phases if you have hired a professional agency to do the job for you.
Let’s find out the connection between the development process and the required web design and web development hours.
How Do the Stages of Development Affect the Average Time to Create a Best Website Design?
Here you’ll find a step-by-step list of web development stages and how they impact the required hours of development.
As an example, we’ll consider an average corporate website.
- Discovery phase. All the factors that affect the answer to how long it takes to design a website are analyzed in this phase. The phase leads to the formulation of a plan that needs to be put into action for making a top-notch website. It is usually 40 hours or 1 week.
- Design phase. The design phase of the site-building process takes most of the time. 53% of users consider the aesthetics of the site to be a factor for customer retention. Hence, it is necessary to allow time here. You need to allow at least 80 hours or 2 weeks to do this.
- Development phase. The coding phase of the site takes around 240 hours or 3 weeks if the site is simple and you have a professional team. In contrast, it may also take months if the site is complex.
- Review phase. This phase of the website-building process takes around 40 hours or 1 week. It can be less or more based on the number of stakeholders. If the stakeholders are more, the volume of input is also more, and so will the time.
- Migration and launch. There is no fixed time for this. It is entirely dependent on the review period of the site. Once the user is satisfied with the output, you can roll out the site.
On an overall basis, we can say that a website will take a minimum of 4-6 weeks to build. If the specifications for the site are more (more complex), it may even take more time.
How long does it take to design a 1 to 5-page website?
Building a Custom Website:
Here are the Basic Estimates of Website Development: 1-5 Pages: 1 to 2 months.
How much does a basic 1-5 page website cost?
The cost of building a five-page website varies with the functionalities and designs your business needs.
Typically, it can cost you between $ 500 to about $ 1000 but can go higher to $ 2500 if you want a fully customized five-page site.
How much does a basic 1-10 page website cost?
The cost of building a five-page website varies with the functionalities and designs your business needs.
Typically, it can cost you between $ 500 to about $ 1000 but can go higher to $ 2500 if you want a fully customized five-page site.
Interesting to Read More about Website Design and Development?
Well, you have a brief idea about the average time to create a website, right? If you want to learn more about the design and development of a website. You can refer to our detailed guide on how much it costs to develop a website from The Best Website Design
