"How long will it take?" is usually the second question after "how much does it cost?" The answer depends almost entirely on which route you take - and, more often than people expect, on how quickly you can provide the information that's needed.
The honest timeline by route
Building it yourself (Wix, Squarespace, etc.)
In theory, you could have a website live within a few hours. In practice, most small business owners who go down this route spend weeks on it - fitting it in around everything else, getting stuck on the design, rewriting the content, and never quite feeling like it's finished.
If you're disciplined and give it focused time: 1-2 weeks to something presentable. If it keeps getting pushed back: months, or never.
Hiring a freelance designer
A freelancer needs to understand your brief, produce initial concepts, go through revisions, build the site, and test it. Assuming they're not overbooked (which many are), a realistic timeline is 4-8 weeks from first conversation to launch.
The most common cause of delay: waiting for the client to supply content. Freelancers typically expect you to provide the text for each page. If that's not ready, the project stalls.
Using a web design agency
Agencies have more people involved - account managers, designers, developers, sometimes copywriters - and that means more process. Discovery sessions, proposal stages, design approvals, development sprints, testing rounds.
A straightforward small business site typically takes 8-16 weeks with an agency. Larger projects can run considerably longer.
Using a managed service like GetOnWeb
Because we handle the content ourselves and have a streamlined process, turnaround is much faster. Once you've completed your brief, your site is typically live within 10-14 days.
The brief itself takes about 10 minutes to fill in - we ask about your services, your location, your style preferences, and a bit about what makes your business different. After that, we handle everything.
| Route | Typical time to launch | Main delay factor |
|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | 1 week – several months | Your own time and motivation |
| Freelance designer | 4 – 8 weeks | Availability + client providing content |
| Web design agency | 8 – 16 weeks | Process overhead + approvals |
| GetOnWeb | 10 – 14 days | Brief submitted promptly |
Why does the client cause most delays? Whether you’re working with a freelancer or an agency, the process almost always stalls while waiting for content, photos, or approval from the business owner. The more you can prepare in advance, the faster your site will launch.
What you can do to speed things up
Regardless of who builds your site, the single biggest thing you can do to accelerate the timeline is to be responsive and prepared:
- Have a clear list of the services you want to highlight
- Know which areas or locations you want to target
- Have a few photos ready if you have them (though many sites work fine without)
- Be available to review and approve things promptly
Projects that drag on for months are almost always waiting on the client side, not the designer's side.
Live in 10–14 days
Fill in a 10-minute brief, and we handle everything else. Your site goes live faster than you’d expect.
Get started →The bottom line
If speed matters - and for most businesses, every week without a website is a week of missed enquiries - the fastest route to a professional result is a managed service. You fill in a brief, we handle the rest, and your site is live within two weeks.
If you have time and budget, an agency will deliver a more bespoke result - just be prepared for a longer process and make sure you're ready to respond promptly when they need input from you.