Treefrog Interactive Inc.

Chess Clock Theory

How long does it take to build a website?

We are regularly asked the question "How long does it take to build a website"? The easiest way to look at it is simply relating it to competitive chess.

Before we talk about chess though, here are the top ten sarcastic answers one might hear (not from us) on how long it takes to build a website;
 

1. "As long as a piece of string"

2. "A website is never completed"

3. "We're already done"

4. "How much money do you have?"

5. "Anywhere between a few minutes and years"

6. "54 Mars rotations"

And here are some stats on how long it has taken Treefrog to build a website;
 

1. Fastest Treefrog has ever created a professional website: 9 hours (including design, slicing, content writing, priming, etc.).

2. Longest Treefrog has ever taken to build a website: 8 years, $1M spent, and counting, still working. (Have I said "Get it live" yet?)

3. Average elapsed timing last year for a full service design (77 days)

Also remember, there are two types of time one needs to count: the actual time spent, in hours, by people, and the total elapsed time from when you start and when you are completed.

Having said all of this, there are two components which affect how much elapsed time it takes to build a website: what components of the website you need to make your site successful, and how long it takes you to get back to us.

For example, here is some timing on our end;
 

1. Custom Graphic Design (8-80 hours spent, 1-30 days elapsed)

2. Hand-coding the design (8-80 hours spent, 1-30 days elapsed)

3. Content Writing (1-10 hours a page)

etc...

If I were to haphazardly indicate "how long it takes," I would say it takes us 6 weeks, for your average website. However, for those of you who have played competitve chess, you will have seen how a a chess clock works.

It works the same in website development. We will do something, then require you to respond. If you could theoretically respond instantly, we could build the website according to our timelines. However, you cannot - you need to eat and sleep and play solitaire just like us. Consequently, we are waiting for your reaction before we can continue.

In addition to this, we are both busy with other things (hopefully, for both our sakes!). Consequently, the moment we send you something - if you happen to be out getting a latte or watching a hockey game, you could throw the whole system off. If you are sick - or we are sick - our project management coordination might be thrown off by days. In an emergency, either of us could involve a new player - but the mental momentum that we have worked together to achieve would be lost. It's worth waiting for the other one of us to get out of bed before continuing.

In addition to this - you should take your time. Although the front hemisphere of your brain can react quickly - the artistic and thinking side of your brain - your subconscious, the one who does all the work - needs time to absorb the thoughts and recognize the patterns of whether or not the work we have done matches your brand and meets your standards of excellence.

And last but not least - the speed of your payment to us will dramatically shift timelines. We do not schedule you in until we have payment - as anything could happen to your own intentions (a sudden business shift, for example) which we cannot control. (Note: A simple way around this is to supply us with post-dated cheques).

Consequently, if I was to answer the question, with Chess Clock Theory in mind, I would say that it takes Treefrog 6 weeks to build your website (on average), but it takes you 6 weeks to build your website (on average), and therefore it takes 3 months to build a website properly.

Add sickness, holidays, project creep, and you have a website lickety split!