Siding Cost Calculator — Material, Labor & Tear-Off
Six materials — vinyl, fiber cement, wood, metal, stucco, and brick veneer — priced across three scenarios: new installation, replacement with tear-off, and complex jobs. Live estimates for material, labor by wall height, tear-off, trim, and your total per square foot.
Siding Cost Calculator
Default 2,000 sq ft — a typical single-family wall area.
Your Estimate — Vinyl, Replacement incl. tear-off
How these numbers combine
The headline range comes straight from the installed-cost matrix below, which bundles everything: the Replacement range already includes tear-off, and the Complex range already includes extra trim and detailing. The line items show how contractors build the same number up: material ≈ 45% of the installed total, labor priced by your wall height, tear-off priced by the old siding material, and a 10% trim allowance on complex jobs. Small gaps between the build-up and the matrix total are normal — the matrix smooths regional labor rates.
The Complete Siding Cost Matrix: 6 Materials × 3 Scenarios
Every siding price you will ever be quoted is some combination of three variables: what the material costs, what the job scenario demands, and how hard your walls make the crew work. The matrix below collapses those variables into one grid. New install assumes bare sheathing — siding goes onto a clean wall with no demolition. Replacement includes tear-off: the old siding comes off, debris is hauled away, and the wall is re-wrapped before anything new goes up. Complex job covers houses that fight back — dozens of inside and outside corners, heavy trim packages, bump-outs, bay windows, and detailing that turns every course into a measured cut.
| Material | New install $/sq ft | Replacement (incl. tear-off) | Complex job | Typical 2,000 sq ft replacement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
🏠 Vinyl | $3–$8 | $7–$15 | $10–$22 | $22,000 |
🪨 Fiber Cement | $6–$13 | $12–$25 | $18–$35 | $37,000 |
🪵 Wood | $7–$15 | $12–$28 | $18–$40 | $40,000 |
🛠️ Metal | $4–$10 | $8–$18 | $12–$28 | $26,000 |
🧱 Stucco | $7–$12 | $12–$22 | $18–$32 | $34,000 |
🏚️ Brick veneer | $15–$30 | $20–$40 | $30–$50 | $60,000 |
Two readings matter here. First, the spread between vinyl and brick veneer is enormous: a 2,000 sq ft replacement runs about $22,000 in vinyl versus roughly $60,000 in brick veneer — nearly a 3× difference for the same wall. Second, the scenario multiplies faster than the material does. Moving vinyl from a new install to a complex job roughly triples the per-foot price, while stepping from vinyl to metal on a plain new install adds only about $1.50 per square foot at the midpoint. Knowing which of the three scenario columns your house actually belongs in is worth more than any amount of material haggling at the supplier.
Always ask every bidder to quote per-square and per-sq-ft. Bids quoted only as lump sums cannot be compared — normalizing to $/square (100 sq ft) exposes which contractor has quietly padded the material or labor line.
The lowest bid on the table often excludes tear-off and trim. A quote $4,000 under everyone else is usually a new-install price on a replacement job — the difference comes back as a change order once demolition starts.
Don't compare a materials-only quote against a turnkey quote. Materials alone run roughly 45% of an installed price — putting a $9,000 supply-only number next to a $22,000 installed bid tells you nothing except that the scopes differ.
How to Calculate Siding Cost From Scratch
If you would rather verify the calculator than trust it, the math fits on an index card. Siding bids are built from four components, and once you can name them you can audit any quote you receive. The complete formula:
Total = (net sq ft × material $/sq ft) + (net sq ft × labor $/sq ft) + (tear-off sq ft × tear-off rate) + trim allowance (8–12% of material)Net sq ft means wall area after subtracting windows and doors. Tear-off only applies when old siding must be removed. Trim allowance covers J-channel, corner posts, starter strip, and house wrap.
Fully worked example — vinyl replacement, 2,000 sq ft
Take the most common job in America: re-siding a 2,000 sq ft wall area with vinyl, 8 ft single-story walls, existing vinyl coming off. Here is every line, with the midpoint rates this page uses:
Notice what the material line absorbs: the $4.50 average covers more than the vinyl panels themselves. House wrap, starter strip, J-channel, corner posts, and the fasteners all ride in the material line, which is why it sits above the raw panel price at the lumberyard. The range around the total — $14,000 on the low end, $25,000 on the high — reflects regional labor rates and profile choices: a double 4″ clapboard in a low-cost market with a simple footprint lands near the bottom, while a premium shake-and-clapboard mix in a coastal metro with lots of corners lands near the top. Run your own numbers with the calculator above, then hold every contractor bid against the result and ask which line item explains any gap larger than 10%.
Labor Cost by Wall Height (The Line Item Everyone Misses)
Two houses with identical footprints and identical materials can receive bids thousands of dollars apart, and the explanation is usually vertical, not horizontal. Siding labor is priced by wall height because height changes the equipment, the pace, and the risk:
8 ft single story
$2–$4
per sq ft — $200–$400 per square
12 ft tall walls
$3–$5
per sq ft — $300–$500 per square
2-story
$4–$7
per sq ft — $400–$700 per square
An 8 ft single-story wall lets a crew work from the ground and a step ladder: two installers can set courses all day without moving staging. At 12 ft, ladders stop being adequate and pump-jack or frame staging goes up — every staging move costs 20–40 minutes of non-installing time. A true 2-story wall adds a second escalation: upper courses are set from planks 16–20 ft in the air, material gets hoisted by hand or conveyor, and the pace drops because nobody moves fast at that height. That is why a 2-story labor rate of $4–7 per square foot can approach the material cost itself. When two bids for identical houses differ by more than the material spread, ask each contractor how many staging lifts their price assumes — the answer explains most of the gap.
How to Calculate Vinyl Siding Cost
Worked example: a 1,600 sq ft single-story ranch, 8 ft walls, new vinyl over bare sheathing (no tear-off needed):
If the old vinyl must come off first, add $1–2/sq ft — $1,600–$3,200 on this house.
Height changes the equipment — and the labor ratePhoto: UnsplashTear-Off Costs: What Removing the Old Siding Runs
Tear-off is the line item homeowners discover last and pay for first. Removal pricing is driven entirely by what is currently on the wall, because the old material determines both the labor method and the weight of the dumpster:
| Old siding material | Tear-off rate | Why it costs that |
|---|---|---|
| 🏠 Vinyl | $1–2 / sq ft | Unzips fast, but 2,000 sq ft still fills most of a 20-yard dumpster. |
| 🪵 Wood (and fiber cement, metal) | $2–3 / sq ft | Nailed at every stud; fiber cement breaks into heavy chunks, metal panels are sharp and bulky. |
| 🧱 Stucco | $3–4 / sq ft | Chipped off with hammers and chisels; the wire lath behind it must be cut out course by course. |
| 🏚️ Brick veneer | $4–6 / sq ft | Cut lines with a grinder, pried off section by section, and mortar debris roughly doubles the disposal weight. |
Weight is the hidden variable. Vinyl comes off in hollow, featherweight panels, so the disposal line is modest. Wood and fiber cement roughly triple the debris tonnage, and brick veneer is the extreme case: the mortar beds and broken brick from a 2,000 sq ft wall can add tons to the dumpster, which is why brick tear-off carries the highest rate in the table. Dumpster sizing, debris weight per square, and the 8-step takeoff that feeds all of this are covered in detail on our takeoff & waste calculator — if you are self-managing a tear-off, start there before you call a single hauler.
How to Calculate Fiber Cement Siding Installation Cost
If you are wondering how to calculate the cost of fiber cement siding installation, the method matches the general formula with two adjustments: fiber cement carries a heavier waste factor than vinyl because the brittle edges chip when field-cut, and its labor rate runs a premium because every plank is heavy, slow to set, and cut with fiber-cement blades. Here is the full build-up for a 2,000 sq ft Hardie 7.25″ lap replacement over old wood siding, 8 ft walls:
Worked example — 2,000 sq ft fiber cement replacement
Compare that midpoint with the vinyl example from the matrix: roughly $22,000 versus $30,000 for the same wall, a gap of about $8,000. About half the gap is material ($7.50 versus $4.50 per square foot before waste), and the rest is the labor premium plus the heavier tear-off. The 13% waste factor is not padding — fiber cement planks snap at corners when cut with the wrong blade, and any course ending in a partial board is usually scrap. Simple rectangular walls can hold 12%; houses with gables, dormers, and many openings should budget the full 15%. Order from the same dye lot, keep the carton labels, and stage the planks flat — the takeoff-and-waste page linked above walks through the full ordering math.
30-Year Cost of Ownership (Without the Hype)
Sticker price is only the first invoice. Each material also bills you for maintenance across the years you own it — washing, repainting, patching, and repointing. The table below keeps to the two things that actually drive that long-run cost: how long the material lasts, and what it demands from you each season. No resale projections, no magic multiples — just lifespan and upkeep.
| Material | Expected lifespan | Maintenance profile |
|---|---|---|
| 🏠 Vinyl | ~40 years | Wash 1×/year with a garden hose and mild soap; no repainting — color runs through the panel. |
| 🪨 Fiber cement | ~50 years | Wash annually; repaint every 12–15 years to refresh the factory finish. |
| 🪵 Wood | 30–60 years | Repaint or restain every 5–8 years; inspect for rot and caulking each spring. |
| 🛠️ Metal | 40–60 years | Wash 1–2×/year; touch up fastener heads and scratch spots to prevent corrosion. |
| 🧱 Stucco | 50+ years | Patch hairline cracks promptly; keep sprinklers and ground contact off the wall. |
| 🏚️ Brick veneer | 100 years | Occasional mortar repointing; wash to control mildew — the brick itself outlives everything else. |
A simple way to compare the table against the price matrix is cost per year of service — just the installed price divided by expected lifespan, nothing more. Vinyl's $18,900 worked-example total spread over ~40 years runs about $473 per year. Fiber cement's $30,000 over ~50 years is about $600 per year, wood's $40,000 over a 45-year midpoint is about $889 per year (before the repaint cycle), metal's $26,000 over ~50 years is about $520, stucco's $34,000 over 55 years is about $618, and brick veneer's $60,000 over 100 years is about $600. Those flat averages deliberately ignore repainting bills that arrive every 5–8 years on wood — a cost curve vinyl and brick never send — which is exactly why the lifespan column matters as much as the price column.
Which Cost Path Applies to Your House?
Most people do not need the whole page — they need the one section that matches their situation. Answer the first question that fits and jump straight there:
Building new or re-siding?
Pick your scenario column — bare sheathing, tear-off replacement, or complex trim-heavy work — then read the full matrix.
Go to the matrixHow tall are your walls?
8 ft, 12 ft, or 2-story — the height premium is the line item that moves bids by thousands.
Go to labor by heightMaterials only, or full crew?
Installing it yourself changes the math completely — here is the supply-only budget method.
Go to DIY budgetsWhat other homeowners actually choose
Approximate industry mix of US re-side jobs — most walls that get re-sided end up vinyl, with fiber cement taking most of the premium share.
DIY materials-only budgets
If a crew is not part of the plan, drop the labor line entirely and budget from the material share only — about 45% of the installed figures in the matrix. For the vinyl replacement example above, that is roughly 2,000 × $2.25–$2.50 ≈ $5,000 in supplies. Then add 20% on top for cuts, mistakes, and the boards that crack on installation day — first-time installers rarely land under that number — and price the tool list: a siding brake or circular saw with a fine-finish blade, snap-line chalk, zip tool, and, above one story, pump-jack staging rental, which typically runs $40–$75 per day per tower. Even with those additions, a DIY vinyl re-side on a simple single-story wall usually lands well under half of a turnkey quote — the trade is your weekends, your ladder time, and a finish that depends entirely on how straight your first course is.
Where to Go From Here
The siding cost calculator on this page gives you scenario-level ranges, but when you want to compare profiles line by line — carton coverage, waste factors, board counts — open the vinyl siding cost calculator on our homepage: the main siding calculator loads a default price for every material profile and recalculates cartons and cost as you edit. From there, the all siding calculators hub has a dedicated tool for each material and task, and the takeoff & waste calculator turns your wall dimensions into an exact order quantity with the right waste factor and dumpster size for the debris your tear-off will produce.
Fresh vinyl — the most common re-side in the USPhoto: UnsplashFrequently Asked Siding Cost Questions
How do I calculate siding cost?▼
Multiply your net wall area by the material rate, add labor priced by wall height, add tear-off if old siding must come off, then add a trim allowance of 8–12% of the material cost. Worked example: a 2,000 sq ft vinyl replacement at 8 ft walls = material 2,000 × $4.50 = $9,000, labor 2,000 × $3.00 = $6,000, tear-off 2,000 × $1.50 = $3,000, trim 10% of material = $900 — a total of about $18,900, with a realistic range of $14,000–$25,000.
How do I calculate vinyl siding cost?▼
Take net wall square footage and price material and labor separately. A 1,600 sq ft single-story ranch with 8 ft walls and new vinyl: material 1,600 × $4 = $6,400 plus labor 1,600 × $3 = $4,800, for roughly $11,200 — typically landing between $7,500 and $15,000. If old vinyl must be removed first, add $1–2 per square foot ($1,600–$3,200 on this house) for tear-off and disposal.
How much does it cost to side a 2,000 sq ft house?▼
For a standard 2,000 sq ft replacement, vinyl runs $14,000–$30,000 (midpoint about $22,000), fiber cement runs $24,000–$50,000 (midpoint about $37,000), wood $24,000–$56,000, metal $16,000–$36,000, stucco $24,000–$44,000, and brick veneer $40,000–$80,000. Houses with many corners and heavy trim detail push toward the top of each range.
What is the cheapest siding per square foot?▼
Vinyl is the cheapest at $3–8 per square foot installed for a new installation — midpoint $5.50. Metal is next at $4–10/sq ft, then stucco and wood at $7+ and fiber cement at $6–13. Brick veneer is the most expensive at $15–30/sq ft installed.
How much is labor per square for siding installation?▼
Labor is priced per square (100 sq ft) and by wall height: 8 ft single-story walls run $200–$400 per square ($2–4/sq ft), 12 ft tall walls run $300–$500 per square ($3–5/sq ft), and 2-story homes run $400–$700 per square ($4–7/sq ft). The height premium covers staging, scaffolding, and slower course-setting on upper walls.
How do I calculate the cost of fiber cement siding installation?▼
Price material with a 13% waste factor, labor at the fiber-cement premium, and tear-off separately. A 2,000 sq ft Hardie 7.25″ lap replacement: material 2,000 × $7.50 = $15,000, plus 13% waste = $16,950; labor 2,000 × $4 = $8,000; tear-off of old wood siding at $2.50 = $5,000. Total ≈ $30,000, with a typical range of $24,000–$38,000.
Does a siding quote include trim and accessories?▼
Not always — and it is the most common gap between bids. Trim, J-channel, corner posts, starter strip, and house wrap typically add 8–12% of the material cost (10% is the planning allowance used on this page). Always ask whether the quote is turnkey (material + labor + tear-off + trim + haul-away) and compare bids on identical scopes before signing.
Compare Other Siding Materials
Hardie & Fiber Cement
Coverage, cost, and board count for James Hardie 7.25″/8.25″...
Vinyl Siding
Vinyl Double 4, 4.5, 5 coverage tables, shake siding, board-...
Wood Siding
Cedar lap, clapboard, shake, and shingle coverage, board foo...
Metal Siding
Corrugated, ribbed, standing seam, steel lap, and aluminum s...
Board & Batten
Board width and batten spacing tables, center exposure formu...
Garage & Shed Siding
Garage and shed siding takeoff: 5 standard size presets, gar...
Linear Feet Converter
Convert siding square footage to linear feet and board feet ...
Takeoff & Waste
8-step siding takeoff with waste factors by material, nail c...
Coverage & Exposure
Coverage for all 10 siding profiles: D3–D6 vinyl, lap 4–8 in...
Repair or Replace
Siding repair cost calculator: patch prices for vinyl, cedar...