Why website projects run over

Ask why website projects run over and you’ll hear about developers, scope and tight deadlines. In our experience the reason is usually earlier and simpler than that. The decisions the site depends on haven’t been made, the copy hasn’t been written, and too many people get a say too late.

The usual story

The kick-off goes well. The designs look great. Then everything slows down.

The copy doesn’t arrive. Feedback goes round in circles. Someone senior sees it for the first time in month three and wants to change the homepage. The launch date moves, then moves again.

Eventually someone says enough, and it goes live half-finished, with lorem ipsum still hiding on a page nobody checked.

Why do website projects run over? Designing while you’re still deciding

A website forces decisions the business has been putting off for years.

Who the site is for. What you actually sell. Which services lead. What to say about each one. When none of that is settled, the website project becomes the place it gets argued out.

Every design round turns into a strategy meeting in disguise, and the designer is left guessing what to draw. You can’t design your way to an answer nobody has agreed. If the bigger question is the brand itself, why a new website won’t fix a brand problem will help you tell.

The copy that never arrives

The copy is usually handed to the marketing team as homework, on top of everything else.

So it’s the last thing to arrive, and the whole project waits on it. Pages get designed around placeholder text, then redesigned when the real words turn out longer, shorter or different.

This is the most common delay we see, and it’s why we won’t start a build without the copy.

Too many opinions, no decision

When there’s nothing agreed to judge the design against, sign-off comes down to who likes what.

Without agreed audiences and an agreed message, every piece of feedback is as valid as every other one. The loudest voice wins the round, and the next round reopens it. There’s more on that in “I don’t like it”: why the loudest opinion keeps rewriting your marketing.

The big reveal makes it worse. The later the MD sees the site, the bigger the change they’ll ask for.

What it’s costing you

A project that runs over costs more than the extra invoices.

• The launch date keeps moving. And with it, every campaign, event and announcement planned around it.
• The budget creeps. Extra rounds, extra pages and rework add up, and it’s the conversation nobody wants to have.
• The site launches half-finished. Copy written in a rush, pages with nothing to say, and a list of fixes for “phase two” that never comes.
• Everyone loses faith in the project. The team stops caring, the MD stops trusting it, and you’re the one in the middle.
• The site looks new and works the same. Because the thinking that would have made it different never happened.

What doesn’t fix it

Most teams try to manage the timeline harder. The timeline isn’t what’s broken.

• “We just need a tighter project plan.” You can’t schedule your way past decisions that haven’t been made.
• “We’ll write the copy as we go.” That’s how the copy becomes the thing everyone waits for.
• “Let’s show the MD at the end.” The later they see it, the bigger the change they’ll ask for.
• “A cheaper agency will be quicker.” A cheaper quote usually skips the thinking, which is the part that keeps a project on time. How much does a B2B website cost in the UK? explains where the difference goes.

What keeps a project on time

Decide before you design. Write before you build. Show real content, not a big reveal.

If your team can’t agree who the site is for or what it needs to say, our brand strategy workshop settles it in a day, with everyone who could overturn it in the room. From £2,800 + VAT.

Then our web design process takes it from there. We untangle what you have, agree what every page has to do, write the copy, show it to you on real content and launch without losing what ranks.

Not sure you need a new site at all? A UX audit, from £550 + VAT, tells you whether it needs rebuilding or fixing, before you commit.

• The thinking happens first. So design rounds are about the design, not strategy in disguise.
• We write the copy. So the site doesn’t wait on your team, and it goes live finished.
• No big reveal. You see it on real content as it’s built, so nothing gets judged on lorem ipsum and nobody gets a surprise in month three.
• Launch day is the start, not the finish. Tracking goes in before launch, so you can see what the site brings in. Your website one year on covers what to review, and what to tell the MD.

Before any of it, write down what you’ve decided. The website brief template shows you which decisions to make before you brief anyone.