Wood siding with paint failing in long strips across the boards

Siding Replacement Cost

Priced by the square foot of wall, quoted as one number, and settled by whatever is behind the old boards.

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Written by Ellen Barrow Exteriors editor

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Updated

Start with the answer

What new siding costs

Residing a house runs $7,000 – $28,000, and most of those jobs are vinyl on a straightforward two-story wall. Fiber cement, stucco and brick veneer all cost more per square foot and last longer, which is the entire trade in one sentence.

Siding is priced by the square foot of wall area with openings deducted, not by the floor area of the house. A bid multiplies that area by a rate bundling material and labor, then adds the lines below. Two bids on the same house can differ by thousands simply because one of them plans to strip the wall and the other does not.

This guide takes the number apart. It prices every common material, scales the job by wall area, splits the bill into product and labor, and lists the surcharges added after the base. Read it in order and you will be able to tell whether a bid is high, low, or describing a different job.

Nothing here asks for your address or your phone number. When you want real bids, the checklist near the bottom tells you what a serious one has to contain.

By material

What each siding material costs installed

Installed cost per square foot of wall, covering material and labor on a straightforward two-story house. The total column prices each material across 1,700 sq. ft. of facade so the spread is visible in dollars.

Material Installed cost per square foot, installed Lifespan On the worked example Who it suits
Vinyl $3 – $12 20 – 40 years $5,100 – $20,400 The default American siding. Cheap to buy, fast to hang, and it never needs paint because it cannot take any.
Engineered wood $3 – $12 20 – 50 years $5,100 – $20,400 Wood strands and resin, sold as LP SmartSide and its rivals. Looks like wood, weighs less than fiber cement, and has to stay painted.
Cedar and wood $4.70 – $7.50 20 – 40 years $8,000 – $12,800 The real thing, and a standing maintenance commitment. Stop painting or staining it and the clock runs fast.
Fiber cement $6 – $18 30 – 50 years $10,200 – $30,600 James Hardie and its equivalents. Heavy, slow to hang, fire-resistant, and the closest thing to a permanent skin on this list.
Stucco $9.30 – $16.90 40 – 80 years $15,800 – $28,700 A rendered wall rather than a hung one, and mostly a labor cost. Cracks are normal; water behind it is not, and that is a drainage detail.
Brick veneer $9 – $28 75 – 100 years $15,300 – $47,600 A masonry skin on a framed wall. The most expensive per square foot and the last one you will ever buy for that house.

Wall area is not floor area. A 2,000 sq. ft. two-story house typically carries 1,500 to 2,000 sq. ft. of facade once windows and doors come out, and a bid should state the figure it measured.

By wall area

How wall area changes the siding cost

The same mid-range vinyl siding priced across the wall areas most American houses fall into. Cost scales close to linearly, with a small penalty on the smallest jobs, where mobilisation and staging are the same whatever the area.

Wall area Project cost mid-range vinyl
1,000 sq. ft. $5,300 – $9,800
1,500 sq. ft. $7,900 – $14,600
1,700 sq. ft. $8,900 – $16,600
2,200 sq. ft. $11,600 – $21,500
3,000 sq. ft. $15,800 – $29,300

These are base figures before tear-off, sheathing repair, house wrap, insulation or trim detailing. Each of those is priced on top, and the surcharge table further down shows what they add.

By quality tier

Economy, mid-range and premium siding costs

The same vinyl siding at three levels of product and workmanship, on a 1,700 sq. ft. wall. The bands overlap because real bids do: thicker panels on a careless install lose to builder-grade panels hung properly.

Tier Per unit Project cost on 1,700 sq. ft. What it buys
Economy $3 – $6.15 $5,100 – $10,500 Builder-grade product, a crew working fast, and the simplest version of the job. Buys the function, not the finish.
Mid-range $5.25 – $9.75 $8,900 – $16,600 What most homeowners actually sign. Mid-tier product from a named manufacturer, a licensed crew, and a warranty worth reading.
Premium $8.40 – $12 $14,300 – $20,400 Top of the product line, specialist installers, and the detailing that decides how the job looks in year fifteen.

In vinyl the tier buys panel thickness, insulated backing and the quality of the locking profile, which is what stops a wall rippling in the sun. In fiber cement it buys factory finish rather than site paint, and that difference is measured in repaint cycles.

Where the money goes

Siding material versus crew labor

On a 1,700 sq. ft. wall in mid-range vinyl, $8,900 – $16,600 before add-ons, the bill divides like this.

Materials $3,600 – $6,600
40% of the bid Panels or boards, trim, corners, starter strip, fasteners, house wrap and flashing tape.
Labor and overhead $5,300 – $10,000
60% of the bid Stripping the old wall, repairing what is found, wrapping and flashing, hanging and cutting every course, detailing around openings, and hauling the old siding away.

The ratio moves with the material. Vinyl is mostly labor, because the product is cheap and the hanging is the job. Brick and stucco invert it in different ways: brick carries the material cost, stucco is almost entirely a trade skill applied on site.

The add-ons

What gets added to a siding bid

The line items that turn a rate per square foot into an invoice, as a share of the base and in dollars on the example.

Line item Surcharge share of the base cost On the example What it covers
Tear-off and disposal +8% – 20% $700 – $3,300 Stripping the old siding back to the sheathing. Skipping it hides whatever is underneath, which is the point of doing it.
Sheathing and framing repair +5% – 25% $450 – $4,200 Rot found once the wall is open. Honest bids price it per sheet as a contingency; the rest discover it mid-job.
House wrap and rainscreen +5% – 15% $450 – $2,500 The drainage plane behind the siding. It is what actually keeps the wall dry, and it is invisible the day the job ends.
Exterior insulation +10% – 30% $900 – $5,000 Rigid foam or insulated backing added while the wall is open. The one moment in a house life when it is cheap to do.
Trim, corners and detailing +5% – 20% $450 – $3,300 Window and door surrounds, corner boards, soffit and fascia. Where a siding job stops looking like a siding job.
Upper stories and difficult access +5% – 15% $450 – $2,500 Staging and lifts, plus every panel carried up. Fiber cement and brick feel this line hardest, because they weigh most.
Permits and lead-safe practices +3% – 10% $250 – $1,700 Permit and inspection, plus the EPA-certified containment required on housing built before 1978.

Exterior insulation is the line worth raising yourself. Adding rigid foam or insulated backing while the wall is open costs a fraction of what it costs at any other moment in a house’s life, and it is the only chance you get until the next residing.

Location

How location affects siding cost

Storm exposure sets the specification as much as local rates set the price.

Region Multiplier Project cost on the worked example Why it moves
Northeast 1.10× – 1.25× $9,800 – $20,800 Highest labor rates in the country, older housing stock, and snow-load requirements that add material.
West 1.05× – 1.30× $9,300 – $21,600 Wide internal spread. Coastal metros price like the Northeast; the interior sits near the national middle.
Midwest 0.92× – 1.05× $8,200 – $17,400 Closest to the national number. Deep contractor supply keeps competitive pressure on quotes.
South 0.85× – 1.00× $7,600 – $16,600 Lowest labor cost, but storm exposure raises material specification and insurance-driven demand spikes.

In storm country the specification rises before the labor rate does, and insurance-driven demand raises both at once.

Before you sign

How to read a siding bid

By the time you are comparing bids, the cost question has become a contractor question. These two lists separate a bid worth taking seriously from one that is going to cost more than it says.

Red flags

Walk away from a siding bid if

  1. The bid states no wall area, so there is nothing to compare rate against.
  2. It does not say whether the old siding is coming off.
  3. There is no mention of house wrap, flashing or a drainage plane.
  4. Nothing is said about what happens if rot is found in the sheathing.
  5. The trim, corners and soffit work is left vague, which is where the visible quality lives.
  6. The manufacturer and product line are unnamed.
  7. A large deposit is demanded before any material is ordered.

Questions

Ask every siding contractor

  1. How many square feet of wall did you measure, and how did you deduct openings?
  2. Which product line and which thickness or grade?
  3. What wrap and flashing goes on before the siding, and how are the windows tied into it?
  4. What is the price per sheet if sheathing has to be replaced?
  5. How are the corners, the trim and the soffit detailed?
  6. Is added insulation an option here, and what does it cost while the wall is open?
  7. Who hauls the old material away, and is disposal in this price?

Cost questions

What homeowners ask about siding cost

Why do siding bids vary so much on the same house?

Because they rarely describe the same job. Tear-off included or excluded, different product grades, and different assumptions about wrap, trim and repair all move the number. Compare the wall area and the scope before comparing totals.

Is insulated vinyl siding worth the extra?

Modestly. The foam backing adds a little insulation value and a lot of rigidity, which keeps panels flatter and quieter. Treat the rigidity as the reason to buy it and the energy saving as a bonus rather than a payback.

What does tear-off add?

Typically 8 to 20 percent of the base cost, covering labor and disposal. It is also the line that pays for itself when it uncovers rot, because that damage does not stop growing because a new wall was hung over it.

Can I side one elevation at a time?

Yes, and it costs more per square foot each time because mobilisation repeats. It is a reasonable way to phase a large job; just expect the finished elevations to weather ahead of the ones you leave.

Does fiber cement need painting?

Factory-finished boards arrive coated and carry a finish warranty measured in years; site-painted boards need repainting like any wood. That choice, more than the boards themselves, decides what the wall costs to own.

Do I need a permit to reside a house?

In most jurisdictions yes, and on pre-1978 housing the EPA lead-safe rules apply to the tear-off regardless. A bid that treats both as optional is quoting a job that skips the inspection.

Figures on this page are indicative national brackets, not quotes. Your number depends on the size, complexity and condition of the job itself, and on what local crews are charging when you buy. Use them to judge a bid, not to replace one.

Cost data

Keep planning

Projects that pair with new siding

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Modern facade alternating wood panels and window openings

The calculator prices siding per square foot of wall on the same national data as every table on this page; no phone number, no lead form.

Price the whole wall Before the first bid

Open the cost calculator