The email said the new look has to be up on the 14th, five weeks out. The other PDF was twelve weeks of discovery, then design, then build. How long does it take to redesign a business website? I opened the live site. Six URLs, and the sentences were already in the editor.
The fee for those templates is how much a website redesign costs. Keep the URLs or throw them out is redesign a website, or start over. A site that is not up yet is how long a custom website takes. I treat this as business websites.
How long a website redesign takes
I count the weeks after the brief, on sites that are already live. I start when I can open the editor and the pages still describe the company. A workshop that has not opened that editor is the last row.
| What is already true | Weeks | What happens in them |
|---|---|---|
| The words and the URLs already work | 3 to 6 | New templates on the pages that exist. Their PDF booked the first eight weeks for a workshop. The editor already had the sentences. |
| The photos are still a shoot | Starts when the files land | I don't draw templates around watermarks. Once the photos are in a folder I can open, the build is the same three to six weeks. The shoot sits in front of that, on their calendar. |
| The form has to send every day | 3 to 6 | I swap one URL at a time, so the public site never goes down. Contact goes last, after I've watched a test message arrive. The week count stays at three to six. |
| Twelve weeks before anyone opens the editor | The other calendar | A blank sitemap and new URLs. That date is how long a custom website takes. The live form still has to send while the other site is being built. |
Their calendar had a kickoff, two design reviews, and a content audit. The audit was going to rewrite six pages that were already fine. I would have started in the editor that week.
What stays up during a website redesign
The public site does not become a coming-soon page. You review on a private link. When a template is ready I put it on that one URL and leave the rest. Someone can still send the form on Tuesday morning while I'm in the homepage.
A private link is only for review
I send the link so you can read it on your phone. The address people already have keeps serving the old template until I swap that one path. I watched a redesign move every URL on a Friday afternoon. The form was quiet until Monday.
The contact page goes last
I build it with the others. I ship it after a test message arrives. The old contact URL stays up until then. On that job the new contact template still hadn't sent a test on the morning of the 14th, so the old URL stayed up through the day.
What keeps a website redesign from starting
I quote three to six weeks when the words are true and one person can say yes. If either of those is missing, I have not started.
Every image is still a watermark
I can set the type. I can't finish a homepage on grey boxes with a stock-photo logo in the corner. Tell me the shoot date. The weeks start the day the files are in a folder I can open, not the day we agree the site looks old.
The services page describes last year
If you retired the package, I need the new words before I count a week. New templates will not fix a sentence about a service you no longer sell. That decision is redesign a website, or start over.
The logo is still being drawn
I place a mark that exists. I don't draw one in the same weeks as the templates. If the brand file isn't done, this date hasn't started. Finish that, then I open the editor.
When a website redesign timeline is the wrong date
I send some of these dates back.
The quote opens with a blank sitemap
They want new URLs and a workshop before anyone logs into the site you have. That is a second site. The calendar is how long a custom website takes, and the site people already use has to keep working while you build the new one. The price for replacing the URLs is how much a custom website costs.
People log in and come back
Staff take bookings in it every morning. Changing the type on the public pages is this table. Rebuilding the logged-in part is how long a first version takes. Those are two dates. A few of the live sites are in selected work. If you want the PDF marked against your date, send both.
