How long does a website project with Locomotive take?

Below, we walk through how we actually run a project, phase by phase, and what your team does at each step. It's our own process, shaped by our team and our clients. If you need a week-by-week planning model you can adapt to any agency, our separate guide to the enterprise website redesign timeline has one.

Our phases overlap on purpose. Development starts on approved components while the rest of the design is being finalized, and content work runs alongside development. That overlap is what keeps most projects within 5 to 7 months. The vast majority of the time, our in-house team handles design and development, with trusted partners for specialized needs.

1. Discovery and strategy

We sit down with you to define goals, audiences, success measures and constraints. We meet the people who will use and update the site, and audit your current content, analytics, URLs and systems. We also confirm the CMS that fits your team: Craft CMS, Sanity, Strapi, Contentful, DatoCMS, WordPress or another platform. Your role: name a decision-maker and give us access to data and systems. Milestone: an approved brief.

2. User experience and architecture

We design the sitemap, navigation, page types and content model, then prototype the key journeys with real content wherever we can. Lorem ipsum hides a lot of problems. Your role: review the structure with the people who own the content. Milestone: an approved structure and key journeys.

3. Art direction and design system

We set the art direction and build a system of typography, colour, components, responsive behaviour and motion. If the concept includes 3D or WebGL, this is where we decide what it's for and how fast it has to run. When the project includes branding, the identity work comes first and feeds this phase. Your role: focused feedback from the decision-maker, within agreed review windows. Milestone: an approved design system.

4. Development and CMS

We build the templates and components, set up the CMS, roles and workflows, and connect forms, analytics, search, CRM or e-commerce. Your role: confirm integrations and third-party access early. Milestone: a working site in a staging environment.

5. Content and migration

While development moves ahead, new content is written, translated and entered, and existing content is migrated. We test a sample batch first, then scale up, and prepare a redirect for every URL that changes. Your role: own the content and approve it on time. Milestone: a site filled with real content.

6. QA and accessibility

We test key journeys across browsers, devices and input methods, check keyboard access, contrast and motion preferences, and put integrations through their paces with realistic data. Milestone: a go/no-go decision based on test results.

7. Launch, and what comes after

We deploy through a rehearsed process and verify forms, redirects, analytics and indexing in production. Then the site stays with us: we host, support and evolve the sites we build, so the improvements keep coming after launch. Milestone: the site is live, and the next improvements have an owner.

Design and code rarely derail a schedule. Decisions, content and dependencies outside the project team usually do.

What keeps a project on schedule

• One decision-maker per approval, with review windows agreed at kickoff.
• Content owners named early, with time set aside to write and approve.
• A clear brief that separates must-haves from nice-to-haves.
• Access to systems and data (CMS, CRM, analytics, hosting) from the first weeks.

When to plan for up to a year

• The site serves several markets, languages or brands, each with its own approvals.
• A large content library is being replaced.
• The site connects to many internal systems.
• Custom 3D or WebGL scenes need assets produced and tested on real devices.

A new brand identity alongside the website also adds time, since the identity work comes first. Larger organizations, like the global design firm behind the Populous website, often plan for a longer runway: more voices, more content and more systems to bring into line.

Start from the date that matters, like a product launch, an event or the end of a contract, and count back to see whether 5 to 7 months fit. If they don't, we'll suggest trimming the first release before we squeeze any phase: launch the priority journeys, then add the rest in planned phases.

At kickoff, we agree on who approves what, how long reviews take and how scope changes are handled. SEO, accessibility and performance sit in the plan from day one, where they're cheapest to get right.

We work with clients worldwide, in English and French. When your teams are spread across time zones or languages, we build that into the review calendar from the start, so approvals keep moving.

Time and budget travel together. Most website projects with us start around CA$125,000, and our guide to what a website with Locomotive costs explains what moves that number. For the bigger picture, read what Locomotive offers. Got a date in mind? Tell us, and we'll help you work back from it.