The verdict in three sentences
A corporate website for a mid-sized enterprise needs a realistic plan of 20 to 26 weeks in Paris in 2026, and 6 to 9 months in London, where procurement and governance add layers. The budget ranges from EUR 45,000 to 90,000 excl. VAT in France (roughly GBP 60,000 to 140,000 for a comparable London agency) depending on templates, languages and integrations (HRIS, CRM, investor area). Delays almost never come from development: they come from internal approvals, content and legal review, which must be scheduled as phases in their own right.
The typical backward plan for a 1,200-employee company
Take a communications director who must present the new site at the June 2026 AGM. Working back from the AGM date, here is the sequence seen on comparable projects in Paris and the wider Ile-de-France region, with the London equivalent.
| Phase | Realistic duration (Paris) | London equivalent | Key deliverables | Share of budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoping and workshops | 3 weeks | 4 to 6 weeks | Benchmark, sitemap, requirements | 8 to 10% |
| UX and wireframes | 4 weeks | 5 to 6 weeks | User journeys, wireframes, tests | 12 to 15% |
| UI design | 4 weeks | 5 to 6 weeks | Web guidelines, 12 to 20 templates, design system | 15 to 18% |
| Development and CMS | 8 weeks | 10 to 12 weeks | Build, headless CMS, multilingual, connectors | 40 to 45% |
| QA and accessibility | 3 weeks | 4 weeks | Cross-browser tests, accessibility audit, fixes | 8 to 10% |
| Launch and migration | 1 to 2 weeks | 2 weeks | 301 redirects, SEO, editor training | 5 to 7% |
| Total | 20 to 26 weeks | 6 to 9 months | EUR 45,000 to 90,000 |
UX and design can overlap by one to two weeks if the executive committee signs off the sitemap quickly. Development can also start on approved templates while the last screens are still in design. These overlaps save three to four weeks, rarely more. In London, add 4 to 8 weeks of vendor selection and security questionnaires before scoping even starts.
For an AGM set on 18 June 2026, scoping must therefore start in early January at the latest, with two weeks of buffer before the date.
The three causes of slippage and what they cost
On a corporate project, the agency controls about half of the calendar. The other half depends on the client's organisation. The items below explain most of the delays observed.
| Cause of slippage | Average delay | Warning sign | Countermeasure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-level approvals (exec committee, CEO, subsidiaries) | 3 to 6 weeks | More than 3 approvers per deliverable | Single sponsor, 5 working-day turnaround |
| Content not delivered (copy, photos, figures) | 4 to 8 weeks | No writer named at scoping | Editorial plan from week 2, writing in parallel with design |
| Legal and compliance review | 2 to 4 weeks | GDPR, cookie and financial report notices not scoped | Lawyer on the steering committee, consent platform chosen at scoping |
| Legacy content migration | 1 to 3 weeks | More than 500 pages or historical PDFs | Content audit, archive what nobody reads |
| Scope change mid-project | 2 to 5 weeks | New section requested after design | Phase 2 scheduled after launch |
Each week of delay has a direct cost: the project team stays mobilised, the agency project manager is extended (EUR 650 to 900 per day in Paris, GBP 700 to 1,100 in London) and, above all, the event that justified the schedule may be missed. An oversized approval committee is the number one risk factor: beyond three approvers per deliverable, turnaround time almost doubles.
Budget: what moves you from EUR 45,000 to 90,000
The budget gap comes down to a few measurable variables. A 25 to 40 page site in French and English, with a headless CMS and around ten templates, sits around EUR 45,000 to 55,000 excl. VAT. The top of the range covers an investor area, an interactive annual report, three languages, an HRIS connection for job offers and a full accessibility audit. Add maintenance of roughly EUR 600 to 1,500 per month for hosting, backups and monitoring.
Mini case study
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Nathalie, communications director of a 1,200-employee industrial company in Paris, must present the site at the AGM on 18 June. She starts scoping on 5 January with a budget of EUR 68,000 excl. VAT. By imposing a single executive sponsor and a 5-day turnaround, she removes about 4 weeks of approval risk. She has the content written by a freelance writer at EUR 450 per day for 12 days, i.e. EUR 5,400, in parallel with design. Result: launch on 2 June with 16 days of buffer and a final budget of EUR 73,400. Without these two measures, the plan would have slipped to late July, after the AGM, with about EUR 9,000 of extra project management. The same project run by a London agency would have needed a September start to hit June.
FAQ
Can an enterprise corporate website be built in under 3 months?
Yes, but only with a reduced scope: 15 to 20 pages, an existing design system and content already written. Plan 10 to 12 weeks and EUR 30,000 to 40,000. Beyond that, QA quality suffers.
Which phase takes longest?
Development, with 8 weeks on average, or 35 to 40% of the calendar. In practice, waiting for content is what most often breaks the plan, with 4 to 8 weeks of delay.
Do we need an accessibility audit?
For a company of this size, yes: an audit costs EUR 3,000 to 6,000 and takes 1 to 2 weeks within QA. It avoids fixing templates after they have been rolled out.
What does maintenance cost after launch?
Plan EUR 600 to 1,500 per month for hosting, security updates, backups and 4 to 10 hours of small improvements.
How do we secure an event date such as an AGM?
Plan backwards from the date with 2 weeks of buffer, set a 5 working-day turnaround for every approval and push any new request into phase 2.
Let's scope your project. Send us your target date, page count and integrations, and we will return a backward plan with a costed budget range. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
