How long does it take to have a document written?

The answer is, “it all depends”. Dependencies include the type and completeness of the source material, the difficulty of the ideas or tasks to be presented, how stable the base information is, how much time you have to spend on reviews, and so on.

As I did with costs, the best way to give you an idea is by example.

Sample times

Here are some sample times for real jobs that I have done recently (see the costs page for a little more detail), but remember that each job is different:

50-page procedures manual: just over three weeks of my time to write from scratch, but about two months in total to allow for arranging meetings, receiving comments etc.
100-page detailed process description: 12 days of my time to edit three drafts, and very considerably longer to finish, because I was involved early and the process was evolving as I worked. In this case, my questions on the document helped the client to identify inconsistencies in the proposed process.
75–100-page training guides: about six days each editing, adding screen shots, checking and rewriting to standards. Quick turnaround of comments meant that only a couple of weeks extra were needed to finish the job.
Double-sided A4 company newsletter: one day to do copy-fitting and typesetting; a few days waiting for comments, then about a week to printing. (One of a series; development of the original template took another day.)
16-page A5 programme of events; one day in total, to set out and print, plus some later corrections. (Why was this so cheap then? Because I did it at reduced cost for a local non-profit organisation.)