A relatively straightforward 2–5 page website redesign can take around 1–2 weeks of focused design and development work. I usually allow a larger project window so there is room for feedback, revisions, testing and the unexpected things that can come up during development.
A larger business website might take 3–6 weeks. Once you start talking about large websites, custom functionality, user accounts, dashboards, databases or complex ecommerce, the project can move into several months.
At that point, I would not necessarily consider it a standard website redesign anymore.
A project timeline is not just the amount of time someone spends designing the pages.
How long does a small website redesign take?
For a fairly straightforward 2–5 page business website, I would generally expect around 1–2 weeks of focused work.
That could include establishing the visual direction, colour palette, typography and overall style system before applying that direction across the website.
For example, imagine a small accounting firm with a five-page website. The branding is staying, most of the content already exists and the main functionality is a contact form.
That is a very different project from redesigning a website where the branding, content, structure and functionality are all changing at once.
Even when the actual work can be completed fairly quickly, I like having some buffer in the overall project schedule.
That buffer is not empty time. It gives everyone room to review work, answer questions, make revisions and deal with issues that may not have been obvious before development started.
How long does a larger business website take?
For a website with around 5–10 pages, more content and additional functionality, I would generally expect somewhere around 3–6 weeks, depending on the project.
A wellness centre, for example, might have multiple service categories, individual service information, booking integration, staff information, photography, policies and more involved content.
There are simply more decisions to make and more pieces to bring together.
Page count matters, but it is not the only thing that determines the timeline.
Five complicated pages can require more work than ten simple ones.
What about a 20+ page website or custom platform?
Once a project includes 20 or more pages or screens, user accounts, dashboards, ecommerce, databases, payments or significant custom functionality, I would start thinking in months rather than weeks.
A minimum of around three months can be much more realistic for a substantial custom project, and some projects will take considerably longer.
I also would not necessarily call that a website redesign.
If you are rebuilding the architecture, creating application functionality, designing dashboards and developing systems behind the interface, you are moving into custom web application or platform development.
Calling both projects a “website redesign” makes their timelines sound much more comparable than they really are.
What actually takes time during a website redesign?
Design itself can take a significant amount of time, especially at the beginning of the project.
I am not just choosing a colour and immediately building five pages. I need to establish how the website should feel and how the different pieces of the interface should work together.
That can include:
- Reviewing the existing website and its structure
- Understanding the content and what needs to change
- Establishing the visual direction
- Creating a consistent colour and typography system
- Designing page layouts and reusable components
- Developing the website
- Testing different screen sizes and scenarios
- Making revisions
- Preparing and testing the final launch
Some of those stages overlap. Others depend on decisions being made before the next part can move forward. If you want a broader look at how those pieces fit together, I've also broken down what actually happens during the web design process.
Client feedback can affect the timeline more than you think
One of the biggest things that can extend a redesign is waiting for feedback.
Imagine a design is ready on Monday and the project needs approval before development continues.
If feedback comes back Tuesday, the project keeps moving. If it comes back the following Monday, a week has been added to the calendar even though no additional design work was necessarily added.
I generally think responding to smaller project questions within around 24 hours is a helpful way to keep things moving when possible.
That does not mean clients need to make major decisions immediately. It means the communication around the project matters to the schedule too.
Sometimes a redesign takes longer because there is more work. Sometimes it takes longer because everyone is waiting.
Should your content be ready before the redesign starts?
I need to understand the vision and have a good idea of how the content should be organized before I can properly design around it.
That does not necessarily mean every sentence needs to be polished before anything can happen.
There are parts of a website I can begin working on without final copy. Navigation, reusable components and parts of the overall design system can sometimes move forward.
But content affects design.
Designing a section for two sentences and later discovering it needs to hold six paragraphs, three photos and a call to action can change the layout substantially.
The better I understand what the website actually needs to communicate, the better I can design the structure around it.
Does keeping your existing branding make the redesign faster?
Usually, yes.
If the business already has a strong visual identity, I have something established to work from.
If the colours, typography, logo and overall brand direction are also being reconsidered, there is another creative process happening alongside the website redesign.
That does not mean branding and web design cannot happen together, but it does mean more decisions need to be made.
Does keeping the existing website structure save time?
It can, although not always dramatically.
Before redesigning a website, I would want to review the existing structure anyway.
If the navigation and organization already make sense, there may be no reason to rebuild them simply because the visual design is changing.
If the structure is confusing, I would rather identify that before the redesign is underway than discover halfway through that the pages need to be completely reorganized.
This is where website navigation becomes more than a visual design decision. It affects how people move through the site and how the content itself needs to be structured.
A redesign should not preserve a structural problem just because changing it would take more time.
Functionality can change the timeline quickly
A contact form and a custom user account system are not remotely equivalent development tasks.
Booking integrations, ecommerce, payments, filtering, accounts, databases, dashboards and other functionality each introduce different requirements and testing scenarios.
Something relatively contained, such as a booking system integration, is also very different from building the underlying functionality of a custom platform.
This is one reason page count alone is not enough to estimate a website timeline.
The number of pages tells you how much website there is. It does not tell you everything the website has to do.
Why does testing take time?
A website does not only need to look right on the screen it was built on.
Different screen sizes, inputs and user scenarios need to be considered. Forms need to work. Links need to go where they are supposed to go. Responsive layouts need to behave properly.
Functionality also needs to be tested under different conditions. The more a website can do, the more scenarios there are to check.
Testing is part of building the website, not something that gets squeezed into the final ten minutes before launch.
Why do revision limits matter?
Revisions are a normal part of a redesign. I generally include two rounds because there should be room to respond to feedback and refine the work.
Defined revision rounds also stop a project from becoming indefinite.
There is a difference between refining a direction and repeatedly changing the direction itself.
If major decisions continue changing throughout the project, the timeline naturally changes with them.
What usually delays a website redesign?
Some delays are predictable. Others are not.
- Slow feedback or approvals
- Waiting for copy, photography or other content
- Changing decisions after work has already been completed
- Adding pages or functionality during the project
- Additional revision rounds
- Unexpected development issues
Development occasionally uncovers something that could not have been completely predicted at the beginning. A third-party service may behave differently than expected, an integration may require additional work or an existing technical issue may surface.
This is another reason I prefer realistic project windows rather than promising the shortest timeline technically possible.
Can a website redesign be completed in one week?
It can.
A small website with a clear direction, ready content, limited functionality and quick feedback can move surprisingly fast.
But “Can it be done in a week?” and “Should this particular project be promised in a week?” are different questions.
I would rather give a project enough room to be done properly than create an unnecessarily tight deadline and discover halfway through that something needs more attention.
Can a redesign be launched in phases?
Yes.
For larger projects, there are situations where launching in phases makes more sense than holding the entire website back until every future piece is complete.
The important thing is that whatever launches first still works as a complete experience.
Phased does not have to mean unfinished.
How can you make your website redesign move faster?
Speed does not have to come from rushing the design or development.
A lot of time can be saved simply by reducing unnecessary waiting and uncertainty.
- Have your important content and assets organized early
- Be clear about the goals of the redesign
- Respond to smaller questions and approvals promptly
- Collect feedback before sending revision requests
- Avoid changing major decisions repeatedly
- Identify required functionality before development begins
One of the easiest ways to shorten a redesign is not to make the work faster. It is to make the decisions clearer.
How long should your website redesign take?
For the projects I work on, a small 2–5 page website may need around 1–2 weeks of focused work, while I generally allow a wider project window for feedback, revisions and testing.
A more involved business website can take around 3–6 weeks. Larger custom projects can easily move into three months or more.
Those numbers are estimates, not deadlines that apply to every website.
The right timeline depends on the content, design, functionality, feedback process and how many decisions still need to be made.
There is also a difference between giving a redesign enough time and allowing it to drag on indefinitely.
When a project stretches out because decisions keep changing or everyone repeatedly has to return to work that had already been settled, it can become harder to maintain the same momentum and cohesive direction.
If you're still figuring out whether the project needs this level of work in the first place, the signs that point toward a website redesign are a useful place to start.
A good redesign timeline gives the project enough room to be thoughtful without giving it so much room that it loses momentum.