Why do websites take so long to build?

We talked in our last post about how much websites cost, but there’s a related factor we didn’t touch upon: time. How long does it take to build a website?

For many clients, building a website feels a lot like a home renovation: it’s always longer, costlier, and more painful than expected. We thought we’d try to break down the mystery for you so that you can understand what’s going on before you walk into a major website project.

In a best-case scenario, a custom-built website will take 2–3 months to get put together. This assumes that everyone involved is super-responsive and that there are no delays. Sometimes this happens, but it requires the type of organization and efficiency of an Indie 500 pit stop. If you have all your assets in order and a leadership team ready to sign off on every design aspect immediately, this is doable.

But as anyone who has ever had to coordinate a large project knows, people have diverse schedules, availability, priorities, and opinions. Your project can be on pause for a week simply because someone along the chain of communication hasn’t had a chance to read and respond to an email. Most projects, once real-life is factored in, take closer to 4–6 months. This isn’t bad, but it can start to feel like a drag when you’re waiting for that essential tool you need to serve your customers more effectively.

In the worst-case scenarios, the project drags on for a year or more. This is never anyone’s goal, but it can happen if there are delays, substantial redesigns, or general scope creep. We dread these projects, but if someone comes to us mid-project and has changed their mind about features we’ve already built for them, there’s not much we can do: we will accommodate, but it will take time.

That said, many of you want to get your website and be out the door ASAP, so even the best-case of 2–3 months seems too long. Is there an alternative?

Absolutely.

How can Clubhouse get me a website in 2 weeks?

With Clubhouse, we can set your membership organization up with a website in 2 weeks. Believe it.

Working from our own, custom-built template is a huge factor here. We know exactly what we’re able to do, and how long it will take to do it, because we’ve been through the process already. We don’t have to build all of your website’s functionality from scratch, and because you can test it for yourself on our demo site, you won’t have to worry about how it works.

Why Clubhouse is the best of both worlds

Between the cost of a website and the time to put it together, Clubhouse really is your best option. It brings you high-quality design and functionality at a fraction of both the time and cost of custom-built. And we’re proud of that.

Because we’ve worked with so many membership organizations, we understand your needs and can address them from the start. We don’t need to take weeks at the beginning of a project becoming familiar with your brand. We get you. We know that you’re eager to get out there with your website and use it. So that’s our goal, too.

And the best part is, if after everything we provide in the Clubhouse package you need something custom-built for your site, we can do that.