One agency says 6 weeks, another says 4 months — how long does it take to build a website from scratch?

The agency promising 6 weeks will just get you under contract and then drag things out to 3-4 months anyway by claiming your content was delayed. Overpromising turnaround times to close the deal is a super common tactic in this industry. The team with the detailed breakdown is always more trustworthy.

We hired a team that promised 8 weeks for our site. Just debugging the CRM webhook data mapping and optimizing product catalog imagery ate up 4 weeks on its own. The project wrapped up at exactly 18 weeks. The agency telling you 16 weeks is giving it to you straight.

Whichever agency you pick, the biggest variable in the timeline is your own prep work. If your copy, high-res product photos, and CRM API credentials aren't ready to go, even a 4-month build will bleed into 7 months. Start pulling your assets together right now.

The moment CRM integration enters the picture, you can't timeline this like a basic brochure site. Building and validating API failure fallbacks, token refresh routines, data validation, and error logging takes 2-3 weeks of dedicated dev and QA work all on its own.

six weeks is pure fantasy. anyway getting design approvals aone takes at least three weeks with all the internal back-and-forth. the four month agency actually has both feet on the ground.

Edit: asked below, I wrote the answer in the second message.

Three years ago, we rushed a similar catalog build and went with the vendor promising a rapid launch. Two months in, we still weren't live because form submissions were generating duplicate records in the CRM and the mobile navigation was completely broken. Fixing that rushed job ended up costing us 6 months and an extra $5,000.

When signing with the agency, lock down these three rules in the contract: 1) Strict turnaround times for approvals (e.g., max 5 business days for design sign-off), 2) Balanced liability terms for project delays on both sides, and 3) At least a 10-day testing window before launch.

On enterprise projects, the credibility of a delivery estimate directly correlates with the agency's risk mitigation plan. The methodology behind a 16-week timeline aligns perfectly with standard professional project management practices.

I'd say don't rush. When making decisions, write down the worst-case scenario too, not just the best.

I went through the same thing two years ago. Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up.

Good luck with that.

Let me speak from the other side; I'm on the supplier side. If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Saved.

Don't miss this: When you try to change everything at once, nothing settles.

Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently. Hope this helps.

There are three things to check when doing this. Processes without records never improve, because you don't know what to fix.

Same here.

This is exactly what we experienced. When making a decision, first look at what data you have on hand.

Most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval. Good luck with that.

this thread is archived.

Thanks for posting.