When discussing time and Drupal website development, it’s vital to distinguish between the different types of Drupal websites. Websites vary greatly in terms of scale, complexity, and the talents required to build and design them. So comprehending this is much aided by a basic categorization framework. If you are hiring a Drupal developer or Drupal development company you can ask for an estimated time of building a website.
The following are the primary categories in which we categorise websites:
Websites using drag-and-drop builders that are hosted
This “Set up your website in 5 minutes” hosted services like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.org fall under this first group.
You receive a template that you can design and fill with content and photos to make it seem great even if you don’t have any technical expertise.
2-20 hours is a typical development time.
Customizations to the theme
The second type is common for simple websites, in which you buy (or download for free) a theme and host it wherever you wish.
Redesigning and putting up a website this way can cost anything from a few hundred dollars to over $3000.
Themes are used to build many WordPress and Drupal sites in this manner.
10-40 hours is a typical development time.
Development of a custom theme drupal website
Custom websites created on a CMS, most often WordPress, and sophisticated websites built on Drupal are found in the third category of websites, which is why they require time.
Instead of using a pre-made solution, a designer creates unique designs that are then coded as a bespoke website by a developer.
16-200 hours is a typical development time.
Business drupal websites
The final category is enterprise-level websites, which have a considerably broader scope and set of criteria. The intricacy of such structures makes estimation more challenging.
200-2000 hours is a typical development time.
To simplify the discussion, let’s look at how long it takes to create a standard “brochure website” with no additional features; just six distinct page templates must be created using unique web designs.
As a custom Drupal theme, we’d estimate it would take around 40 hours to complete.
To summarise, a 6- to 8-page template website should take 40-100 hours to build, and you should think twice before asking for modifications or becoming irritated over minor flaws.
Your website visitors may notice them, but they are unlikely to trust your agency’s judgement.
If your site requires extra features and pages, you now have a method to estimate how this may affect your pricing and timeline.
Now you have a comprehensive understanding of fundamental Drupal development and what to look for when hiring a Drupal development company. Is there anything we’ve overlooked or misunderstood? Is there anything more you’d want to suggest? Please let us know in the comments section below!
Author Information
LN Webworks
Your Drupal Solution PartnerLN Webworks have championed open-source technologies for nearly a decade, bringing advanced engineering capabilities and agile practices to some of the biggest names across media, entertainment, education, travel, hospitality, telecommunications and other industries.