If your property sits inside a gated or design-review community, HOA approval is a real, separate step from the city permit, and it is worth planning for honestly rather than assuming it will move fast.
What actually drives this
Some Scottsdale-area master-planned communities run design-review boards that can sit on a pool or backyard project submission for weeks past what a contractor originally quoted, sometimes longer than the municipal permit itself takes to clear. That is not unusual and it is not necessarily a sign anything has gone wrong. Community associations generally run their own architectural review process separately from the city, which is exactly why it has to be planned around rather than promised away.
On one project inside a gated community, the design-review board sat on the submission for almost six weeks past the original estimate. The client got a call every week with an actual update, even when the update was that there was still nothing to report, because silence is what actually makes people nervous, not a slow board. That client stuck with the project the whole way through.
A rough range or answer for this business
Marcus will not hand over a finish date before the permit, and any HOA approval, are actually signed. A quoted range gets confirmed once that step clears, not guessed at upfront. If your community has a design-review process, plan for it to add real time, and expect regular updates through it rather than silence. The same applies on the municipal side: it is worth verifying any contractor's license status directly with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors before signing, HOA-governed community or not.
Paradise Valley and north Phoenix both have a real share of gated, design-review communities; see how this plays out on a Paradise Valley project or what to ask any contractor before signing.
See how a full project actually runs or get a real range for your yard.