Answers
How long it takes.
The honest answer depends on how much of the system you are building, the same way the cost does. What follows is the shape of it, not a fixed number: a single website and a full system behind several sites are not the same length of job.
Week one: show us
The first step is a few minutes on how the work actually flows now, or pasting your site so we can see what it is doing today. This is where the shape of the build gets decided, not guessed at from a template.
Early: you see it before anyone else does
The first version is built to be looked at, not launched. You see the website or the system working before a single customer does, and changes happen at this stage, while it is still easy to move things.
What changes the length of the build
A single website is the fastest piece on its own, since it depends on one thing: the site itself. See websites, shops and apps.
A website plus the system behind it takes longer, because reception, bookkeeping and reporting each need to be built around how your business actually works, not dropped in as a generic add-on.
A business already leaking work in several places benefits from an audit first, so the build starts from where the real problems are.
When it goes live
Live means answered, chased and filed without you having to check it, not just a website switched on. That milestone lands once the parts you asked for are actually running, checked by you at every stage along the way.
Getting an actual number for your business
This page describes the shape of the timeline, not a promise about yours specifically. For what a build like this costs, book a 15-minute call and describe what you need built. The honest timeline follows from that conversation.
Questions
Does a bigger business always mean a longer build?
Not always. It depends on how many separate systems need joining up, not the size of the company itself. A single trade business with three tools tangled together can take longer than a larger one already running cleanly.
What do we see first?
A working first version, not a plan on paper. You look at it, ask for changes, and the next version reflects them before anything goes live.
Can it go live in pieces?
Yes. The website can go live while reception or reporting are still being built behind it, so you are not waiting on the slowest part to see something working.