How long does a custom WordPress site actually take (honest version)?

2 — 12 weeks. The “3 — 6 day” promises are a tell.

The brackets

• 2 — 4 weeks · Rebuild on an existing brand. The brand is locked, the content is frozen, the buyer has decision authority. Three to four templates. WCAG-AA on launch.
• 4 — 8 weeks · Full marketing site rebuild. Five to seven templates, two locales, ACF-driven editorial workflow, real performance budget enforcement.
• 8 — 12 weeks · Above plus regulated copy locks, headless analytics, custom integrations. The variance is integration count and decision speed, not engineering.

What kills the timeline

Marketing decision authority that takes two weeks to confirm a button label. Brand teams that hold copy hostage until the dev work is “done.” Multiple internal approvers without a single decision owner. None of these are engineering problems.

What the “3 — 6 day” sites actually do

They reskin a premium theme. The “build” is theme installation and content paste. That’s a fine deliverable for some buyers. It’s not a custom site, and it’s a different conversation.