In this guide you will find a comprehensive answer to how long it takes to design and develop a website. We look at:
- Breakdown of design and development time by website type;
- What factors influence web development schedule;
- How Streamline the web development and design process;
- And more!
Our article will be useful for startup founders, serial entrepreneurs, and product managers.
Reading: How many man hours to create a website
Getting straight to the point.
How much time does it take to design and build a website?
The time it takes to develop a website ranges from 150 up to 500 hours.
The website creation process goes through different phases when you let a technical partner create it. The project finding phase, design phase, development phase and website improvement phase.
And all take time and iteratively.
Here is an estimate of the average time to create a website in terms of design and Development.
Type Hours Required Design Development Total Landing Page 40 40 80 Company website 60 80 140 Simple web application 120 480 600 Average web application 200 960 1160 Complex web application 300 1500 1800
As mentioned above, there are websites and web applications. Both depend on a number of factors. The choice between a simple website and a web app depends on your target audience.
A simple website and landing pages take less time because the number of functions it contains is smaller.
< On the other hand, web apps like Youtube or SaaS platforms like Canva take more time as they are packed with top-notch features. In addition, web apps have additional features compared to websites.
Also, the development and design process for these projects is more complex than that of a simple HTML and CSS website.
Let Us Take a look at a detailed overview of price factors.
Factors that influence the average time to build a website
The average hours to build a website mainly depends on 3 factors from:
- Business goals to be achieved;
- The complexity of the concept;
- The level of a development team;
Let’s take a look at the aspects that influence the average time to build a website from scratch.
Factor 1. The goal of a website
The key point that defines web development Timeline is the goal of a future website. Let’s find out more about options.
Goal Description Start Marketing The end goal of almost every business website is marketing.
If you have a digital marketing agency or a software development agency, you need a website to showcase your services and attract customers.
A website dedicated to marketing will take less time does not require any special adjustment. In addition, user interaction with such websites is also limited.
A simple WordPress website will suffice.
Note that websites created for marketing purposes require more effort for SEO require ( Search Engine Optimization) page.
Social media, domain name and proper CMS (Content Management System) optimization are also important factors to consider.
Launching a web product The core motive of a web app is to provide the required utility to the user by interacting with it.
Web apps run smoothly on any browser and are easy to maintain. They are cross-browser friendly. Therefore, building web apps can take more time.
Because the goal is to create a custom website, there are a lot of web design elements and features that take a lot of time
For example, Google Docs is a web application that allows you to edit, share and download documents.
Youtube allows you to watch, save, download and upload videos.
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Udemy has a plethora of courses for you to take and learn.
For web apps like this, you need to work with a web development team that has at least one web designer on their team.
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They take care of the user experience, the user interface, for example for a homepage, and other factors that affect the look of the website.
These web apps take months and lots of UX iterations to be redesigned design to create them as they have more features and more user interaction on.
There are mockups, wireframes and many revisions. Sometimes it gets costly even 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 the business logic
The second critical factor affecting the web development schedule is the complexity of the business logic. In other words, how many roles and functions your web project will have.
The more complex the logic, the more time-consuming and expensive the website project will be.
Well, the complexity of the website or a web application depends on various components.
Component 1. Number of roles
The number of roles in a website or web application has a major impact on the cost and time needed to create it.
Website Web Application For example, a website has 1 or 2 roles.
One is the user who can submit a request form. The other is the admin or the website owner who is replying to this email.
Both have different permissions to access website data. For example, the user can only read the information.
However, the admin can read and revise the content as they wish.
On the other hand, a web app can have multiple roles.
For example, Trello, a work management tool, can be used by multiple users at the same time. Users have different access rights, which means multiple roles.
An app like Trello with multiple roles can take around 4 months.
Component 2. Number of features
If any factor significantly affects the time it takes to build a website, it’s the number of features it has.
Website Web Application A website on which can on the other hand, they also have countless features.
For example, if you are selling a solution like antivirus software through your website, a payment gateway is required, which takes more time.
A website with 10 to 15 web pages could be ready in a few days or weeks or months. It all depends on the page features and their complexity.
Even though the number of pages is not a crucial factor here, it does play a crucial role in the whole process.
Even you can While starting a new website with templates and plugins, to take that new website to the next level, you need to develop customized solutions.
As an example, you can check the website redesign case study conducted by became Spdload.
It took us six months to redesign the entire website. We have built various new features into it.
Web apps are mostly e-commerce apps, e-learning apps, social networks or management tools.
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These web apps are built with special features that increase the cost and time to build the app.
For example, AirBnb is a web app with features like house listings, location, search, and payment gateways, etc.
All of these are high-end features that increase the cost of building the app. A web app like AirBnB can take around 6 months to complete.
GetReinvented is an online fitness platform developed by Spdload. The web app was developed in 1200 hours.
It has various features such as video on demand, payment via PayPal and Braintree and many more!
Component 3. Complexity of features
The question of how long it takes to create a website does not only depend on the number of functions. It also depends on how complex the function is.
Here are some factors that increase the complexity of the function.
Amount of data to use The number of integrations When it comes to data usage, the app or website needs to be optimized. However, there are some features that increase data consumption.
Features such as in-app purchases, in-app advertising, video playback on the website, etc. increase data usage.
Playing an HD video on Youtube uses more data. Therefore, the usefulness of HD playback in a web app will require more development time.
If your website contains more videos, this will certainly increase the amount of data used.
Integration into a web app or a website can be of different types.
For example, in the case of eCommerce web apps, you need to integrate payment gateways to accept payments.
The greater the number of gateways, the more complex the app becomes. Therefore, the development time will be longer.
Maps integrations are required in a company website so that the customers can easily find the offices. This will again increase the time needed to develop a website.
Therefore, the complexity of the function affects the answer of how long it takes to design a website.
Another important one 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. But also sets time and money limits.
Let’s look at the details.
Factor 3.The level of the team involved
The expertise of the team you need has also impacted the time it takes to build a website. Whether you’re building a website or a web app, you’ll 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 request)
The website creation process goes through different stages when you have hired a professional agency to do the work for you.
Let Let’s find out the connection between the development process and the web design and web development hours required.
How do the development stages affect the average time to build a website?
Here is one Step-by-step list of web development phases and how they affect the required development hours.
As an example, let’s consider an average corporate website .
- Discovery phase. All the factors that influence the answer as to how long it takes to design a website are analyzed at this stage. The phase leads to the formulation of a plan that must be implemented in order to create a top-notch website. It is usually 40 hours or 1 week.
- Design phase. The design phase of the site building process takes the most time. 53% of users consider website aesthetics a factor in customer retention. So here is time to plan. You must plan at least 80 hours or 2 weeks for this.
- Development phase. The website coding phase takes about 240 hours or 3 weeks if the website is simple and you have a professional team. In contrast, it can take months for complex pages.
- Review phase. This phase of the website creation process takes about 40 hours or 1 week. Depending on the number of participants, it can be fewer or more. When there are more stakeholders, the input volume is greater and so is the time.
- Migration and go-to-market. There is no fixed time for this. This is entirely dependent on the review period of the site. Once the user is satisfied with the result, you can roll out the website.
Overall, we can say that creating a website will take at least 4-6 weeks. If the specifications for the site are larger (more complex), it may take even longer.
Interesting to read more about Website Design and Development?
Well, you have a brief idea of the average time it takes to build a website, right! If you want to learn more about the design and development of a website. Check out our in-depth guide on how much it costs to develop a website from scratch.
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