How We Build a Website in 10 Days

We build a custom small business website in about ten business days by running five fixed phases in order: discovery, design, build, review, and launch. Ten business days is roughly two calendar weeks, which is why our process page counts days 1 through 14. That's the timeline for a Starter site of up to five pages; larger sites take a little longer, and every phase ends with something specific you can look at.

Is it 10 days or 14 days?

It's ten business days, spread across about 14 calendar days. Our process page numbers the steps on a two-week calendar (discovery on days 1–2, launch on days 12–14) because that's how it feels from your side: you kick off on a Monday and launch two weeks later. Weekends are in that count; we don't expect you to review mockups on a Saturday.

The timeline depends on the size of the project:

The rest of this post walks through a Starter build. Full details are on our pricing page.

Discovery (days 1–2): what are we building, and for whom?

Discovery turns what you know about your business into a plan we can build from. It starts with a 15- to 30-minute call, or a questionnaire if that suits you better. We ask what you do, who your customers are, how they find you now, what you want them to do on the site, and what you've disliked about past websites.

Then we do the homework you shouldn't have to. We audit the sites of competitors in your area to see what they cover and what they miss. We research the keywords your customers actually search, such as the specific service plus your town, so the pages are built around real queries from the start.

The deliverable is a discovery brief with three parts:

• A sitemap: which pages the site will have, and what each is for.
• Keyword targets: the main search terms for each page.
• A content outline: what goes on each page, section by section.

For a hypothetical landscaping company, that might mean a homepage, separate pages for lawn care and hardscaping, an About page, and a Contact page, each with its own target search and outline. You review the brief before we design anything.

Design (days 3–5): see the site before it's built

Design produces a custom homepage mockup before any code is written. We don't start from a template. The mockup shows your real layout, your colors, your type, and real or near-final copy, designed for a phone first and then for larger screens.

We show you the homepage first because it sets the direction for every other page. If something's off (the tone is too formal, the colors don't feel like you, the services are in the wrong order), it's far cheaper to fix in a mockup than in a finished site. A Starter project includes one revision round here. Most feedback at this stage is specific and quick to apply, like "make the phone number more prominent" or "lead with residential, not commercial."

Build (days 6–9): every page, on a staging site

The build turns the approved design into a working website on a private staging URL. You can open it on your own phone at any point and watch it come together. During these days we:

• Build every page in the sitemap.
• Write or refine the SEO content for each page against the keyword targets from discovery.
• Optimize every image for size and format.
• Add structured data, FAQ sections with FAQ schema, a robots.txt that allows AI crawlers, and an llms.txt file.
• Test across phones, tablets, and desktop browsers.

We use AI-assisted tooling for the mechanical parts of the build, and a person reviews all of it. That combination is a large part of how the timeline works: the repetitive work goes faster, and the judgment calls still get human attention. Sites are built on Nuxt, Next.js, or optimized WordPress, depending on what fits the project, and every one is built to load in under 2 seconds.

Review and revise (days 10–11): walk it page by page

Review is where you check every page on the staging site before it goes public. We walk through it with you page by page. You're checking the things only you can check: is the service description accurate, is that the right phone number, is the team photo the current team.

Then we make the final adjustments. If you want to know what should be true before any site goes live, ours or not, our website launch checklist covers it item by item.

Launch (days 12–14): go live and hand over the keys

Launch moves the site to your domain and connects everything that needs connecting:

1. Point your domain at the new site.
2. Set up the SSL certificate so the site runs on HTTPS.
3. Connect Google Analytics.
4. Set up Google Search Console and submit the sitemap.
5. Give you a short training session on making basic updates yourself.

Google Business Profile optimization is part of every build, so your profile and your new site say the same things on launch day. You own the design, the code, and the content. Hosting is separate, typically $20 to $50 a month, and every build includes 30 days of post-launch support.

What keeps a project on schedule?

The timeline holds when feedback and content arrive on time. The phases are short, so a few days' wait for a reply pushes everything back by a few days. The most common delays are:

• Missing content: photos, bios, or service details that only you can provide. The discovery brief's content outline makes clear what's needed, early.
• Slow feedback: the mockup or staging site sits unreviewed. Short, direct notes within a day or so keep things moving.
• Scope changes mid-build: adding a booking system or five more pages after design is approved. It can be done, but it changes the timeline and usually the plan.

None of these are a problem if we talk about them. The schedule is a plan, not a penalty.

Why fast doesn't mean rushed

Speed comes from structure, not shortcuts. Every phase has a fixed deliverable and a clear handoff, so there's no month of vague "design exploration," no waiting on a long chain of approvals, and no build starting before the design is agreed. Small-business sites have a fairly well-understood set of needs, and a repeatable process for meeting them is what makes two weeks enough.

Summary

We build a Starter website in about ten business days, which spans roughly two calendar weeks: discovery (days 1–2) produces a brief, design (days 3–5) produces a homepage mockup, build (days 6–9) produces a complete staging site, review (days 10–11) gets your sign-off, and launch (days 12–14) puts it live with analytics, Search Console, and a short training session. Growth and Premium sites follow the same steps over about 12 and 15 business days.

Start your project and we'll book the discovery call.