You have a funding deadline approaching. Or perhaps you have a massive marketing campaign launching next month, and you need a new website live before it kicks off.
You ask a developer how long it will take. They say, "Three weeks." Three months later, you are still arguing over WhatsApp, the site is not live, and you missed your deadline.
This scenario plays out thousands of times a year in Nigeria. If you are planning a launch, you need to know the realistic timelines, and more importantly, you need to understand what actually causes delays.
Realistic ranges by project type
If you are dealing with a professional agency with a structured process, here is a realistic baseline for how long different types of projects actually take to build, test, and launch:
- A standard corporate website (5 to 10 pages): 3 to 6 weeks.
- A standard e-commerce store (under 100 products, Paystack integration): 6 to 10 weeks.
- A custom web application or complex software platform: 3 to 6 months.
If someone promises you a custom e-commerce store in three days, they are not building it. They are installing a cheap template and hoping you do not notice the broken features until after you pay them.
The uncomfortable truth: It is rarely the code that causes the delay
When a three-week project turns into a three-month project, clients usually blame the developer. Sometimes, the developer is genuinely incompetent or overwhelmed.
But in the vast majority of cases, the actual coding only takes a fraction of the time. The real delay is content.
Developers cannot build a page until they know what goes on it. If you hire a developer on Monday, but you do not send them your company logo, your brand colours, the photographs of your office, and the text for the "About Us" page until week six, the project is already a month behind schedule.
Waiting on copy, waiting on product photos, and waiting on approvals from a committee of five different managers is what destroys timelines.
The client readiness checklist
If you want your website to launch on time, you need to do your homework before you sign the contract. The projects that finish exactly on schedule are the ones where the client hands over a complete folder of assets on day one.
Before you pay a deposit, make sure you have:
- Your high-resolution logo: Not a blurry JPEG from Facebook. A high-quality PNG or vector file with a transparent background.
- Written copy for every single page: If you cannot write it yourself, you need to hire a copywriter (or agree to pay the web agency to write it for you). Do not wait for the developer to magically invent text about your business.
- High-quality photography: Stock photos are fine for some things, but you need real photos of your team, your office, or your products.
- One decision-maker: If the developer has to wait for the CEO, the Marketing Manager, and the IT Lead to all agree on the shade of blue on the homepage, the project will stall. Appoint one person to approve the work.
How to guarantee a delivery date
At TideRelay, we take deadlines seriously. When you work with us, you are not guessing when your project will be done.
We use a strict project process to ensure everything stays on track. We define exactly what we need from you, and exactly when we will deliver our milestones. If we say it will take six weeks, we engineer it to take six weeks.
We also publish our standard project timelines alongside our pricing, so you know exactly what to expect before you ever pick up the phone.
If you have a hard deadline and you cannot afford to work with a developer who disappears for weeks at a time, contact our team today. We will tell you realistically whether your timeline is achievable.
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