Conventional growth models suggest that faults become larger due to systematic increases in both maximum displacement and length. We propose an alternative growth model where fault lengths are near-constant from an early stage and growth is achieved mainly by increase in cumulative displacement. The model reconciles the scaling properties of faults and earthquakes and predicts a progressive increase in fault displacement to length ratios as a fault system matures. This growth scheme is directly applicable to reactivated fault systems in which fault lengths were inherited from underlying structure and established rapidly; the model may also apply to some non-reactivated fault systems. Near-constant fault lengths during subsequent growth are attributed to retardation of lateral propagation by interaction between fault tips. The model is validated using kinematic constraints from growth strata, which are displaced by a system of reactivated normal faults in the Timor Sea, NW Australia.