Part of Mode’s research series answering the questions buyers actually ask. Sourced where sourceable, honest where the industry is vague.
The answer nobody prints
Ask five agencies how long your website will take and you will get five versions of “it depends”. In our July 2026 research, 88% of the UK’s top 50 digital agencies publish no prices on their homepages, and timescales are rarer still. That is not laziness. It is a structural confession: you cannot promise a timescale for a scope you have not fixed.
Where the months actually go
Here is the industry’s open secret: the building is fast, the process is slow. A five-page business site is genuinely a few days of skilled work. What stretches projects to two or three months is everything wrapped around it: the discovery call to earn a quote, the proposal, the scope negotiation, the staged sign-offs, the unlimited revision loops, the waiting between all of the above. The calendar burns in the gaps, not the build.
What fixed scope changes
Fix the scope and the promise becomes possible. Mode publishes its timescales next to its prices: a complete one-page site in 5 working days (£249), a five-page custom WordPress site in 5 working days (£495), up to eight pages in 10 working days (£795), brand and website together in about three weeks (£1,250). Half up front, balance when you are live and happy, a defined revision round included. Not because we cut corners the others keep, but because a defined job can be scheduled like one.
The honest caveats
Two things legitimately extend any build, ours included: content that has not been supplied (the site cannot launch without your words, photos and logins), and slow feedback (a 5-day build assumes you can review within a day or so). The fastest projects are the ones where the client turns up prepared. We tell you exactly what to prepare before a penny is paid.
Where Mode fits, stated plainly
Every Mode timescale and price is published, so you can hold us to both: Quick Site, 5 working days · One Page Site, 5 working days · all prices and timescales.
