What's the average downtime I can expect from a web host after I made changes to my site?

My current web host takes 24-48 to republish my site after I make a change. During this time period the site is not accessible. Is this average? It seems unreasonably long and I fear I will lose business with this kind of SLA.

That's ridiculous. You should be able to make changes on your website and have them show up immediately, with no downtime at all. If your web host can't do any better than they're doing now, then it's time to start shopping around for a new host.

There are two issues here. Assuming you mean content changes.

There is no reason for it to be down while changes are being made. Even if there is a reason for it to take that long, which there is not, and that's the second issue.

Unless you are doing J2EE or some other application server implimentation.... which may explain the long publish time, but still doesn't explain the down time.

I never heard of a webhost where it takes time for changes to take effect.

I would suggest you to find another webhost.

http://www.godaddy.com

And

http://www.bluehost.com

Are 2 good hosts

The only changes that take times to take effect are DNS changes, which are normal.

That sounds rediculous to me. Changes should be effective immediately. They are for me. I use HostNed web hosting http://www.hostned.com