The Short Answer
- 5 to 7 pages (Starter): 1 to 2 weeks. Faster when content and direction are ready.
- 10 to 20 pages (Growth): 2 to 4 weeks. The variable is almost always content speed.
- 30 plus pages or e-commerce (Scale): 4 to 8 weeks.
- Complex migration: up to 6 weeks.
The single biggest factor is not the build. It is how ready your content is. Give us content and a direction and we move fast. You do not even need a finished design.
The web design industry has a quiet habit of treating slowness as a sign of quality. Ask around and you will hear that a real custom website takes 8 to 16 weeks, sometimes 24. That number is not a lie exactly, but it hides the truth about where the time actually goes.
A 12 week project is rarely 12 weeks of work. It is closer to 60 to 100 hours of actual building, stretched across 12 weeks because the agency has a queue of other clients, the project stalls every time it waits on your photos and copy, and each round of feedback takes days. The design and the code are not what make it slow. Waiting is what makes it slow.
About PandaCodeGen
PandaCodeGen builds custom Next.js websites in weeks, not months. We are founder-led and small, so your project is not stuck in a queue. Fixed pricing from $1,500. 90+ PageSpeed in writing or a full refund. See our published fixed tiers.
Real Timelines by Project Size
Here is what each project size honestly takes when your content is ready. These are not aspirational marketing numbers. They are the ranges we actually deliver on, with the receipts further down.
Swipe to see the full table →
| Project | Honest timeline | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Starter, 5 to 7 pages | 1 to 2 weeks | Design back and forth |
| Growth, 10 to 20 pages | 2 to 4 weeks | Content readiness |
| Scale, 30 plus / e-commerce | 4 to 8 weeks | Catalog, integrations, content |
| Complex migration | up to 6 weeks | Content volume, redirects |
These line up with the migration timelines in our Migration Services reference, which breaks down the per-platform ranges (WordPress, Webflow, Squarespace, Wix) in more detail.
The One Thing That Controls the Clock: Content
If you take one thing from this article, take this. Across every study of website timelines, and across every project we have shipped, the number one cause of delay is the same: waiting on the client's content. Text, photos, and decisions. Not the build.
The clearest example is a medical practice we work with. The site genuinely takes time, and for good reasons. We cannot use any stock photos, because the work depends on the doctor's specific expertise and real results. The owner is busy, so each round of feedback takes about a day. The content is medically complex and has to be exactly right. That is a slow project, and it should be slow, because rushing it would be wrong.
Now compare that to a build where the client handed us everything up front. That one shipped in 20 days, and it was a full e-commerce store. Same team, same standards. The only difference was content readiness. When you have your content and a clear direction, we go fast. When the content is still being created and decided, the calendar stretches, no matter who builds it.
"The honest math: the build is hours. The timeline is mostly waiting. Remove the waiting and the timeline collapses.
You Do Not Need a Finished Design
A common reason owners delay starting is that they think they need a polished design ready first. You do not. You need content and a direction, and the direction can be loose.
- ✓Have a clear vision? Great, we build to it.
- ✓Only have inspiration and a few references you like? Send them, we design from there.
- ✓Want to just say surprise us? That works too. We design it from our own judgment.
We do not charge extra for the design work in any of those cases. Some clients come to us with no design at all, just a few references and a "can you do something like this." We take the inspiration and deliver. On a recent build we turned a homepage and three sections around in two days from that kind of brief, and if the theme or typography needs adjusting after, that is a quick change. The thing that moves your timeline is content readiness, not whether you arrive with a finished design.
The Receipts
Honest timelines mean nothing without proof. Here is what we have actually shipped.
- ✓PandaCodeLab, our own agency site: 7 days, designed from scratch on a surprise us brief.
- ✓MyCustomPatches, a WordPress migration: 7 days, because the client had design and content ready.
- ✓Panda Patches, a full e-commerce store: 20 days, our fastest large build, because all the content was provided up front.
See the full breakdowns on our work page. The pattern across all three is identical: when content and direction are ready, the build is fast.
How We Stay Faster Than a Typical Agency
Speed without cut corners comes from process, not pressure. Three things make the difference.
1. Two days of discovery up front
Before any clock starts, we spend at least two days with you and a structured questionnaire. It surfaces the content and decisions you are missing now, so the project does not stall halfway through waiting on something nobody flagged.
2. Fixed scope, signed before we start
A signed scope of work means no mid-project scope creep, the quiet killer of timelines. Everyone knows exactly what is being built before anyone starts.
3. Founder-led, no queue
Your project is not sitting behind 30 others. We are small and founder-led, which is exactly why the calendar can be weeks instead of months without anyone rushing the actual work.
And if you genuinely need a rush, we can prioritize it. We do not say no to rush jobs. We just price the extra dev hours honestly up front rather than pretend speed is free.
Want a realistic timeline for your specific site?
Tell me your platform and rough page count and I will give you an honest range and a fixed price. No queue, no scope-creep surprises.
Weeks, not months. In writing.
Bring your content and a direction, even just inspiration, and we will move. Tell me what you want built and I will reply personally with a real timeline.