Why we created this guide? It is very difficult even for us to find any siding materials prices online. Even the big home improvement chains are horrible at providing information on their websites, and when you do find the product, you won’t know how much material you will get for a given price. In this guide, we make Vinyl Siding Prices simple!

In this guide we will walk you through the cost of vinyl siding materials and installation costs. Most vinyl siding materials are divided into three groups: Clap-board / dutch lap siding, cedar shingles impression siding, and specialty vinyl siding that resembles brick or natural stone faced finish. Clap-board and Duthc-lap siding is the horizontal panels siding that resembles cedar horizontal siding, and comes in three thickness groups, which make it low-end, mid-range and high-end siding materials.

Typical vinyl siding thicknesses are .042″, .044″ and .046″ respectively. For the purposes of this guide we will use the basic clap-board .042″ thickness vinyl siding, with 1/2″ bump-out (how much it sticks out), and we will use publicly available vinyl siding prices from national home improvement chain’s website (big orange box), which sells “generic” brand vinyl siding.

Which vinyl siding materials are needed for a complete installation:

Besides the siding panels, you would also need certain accessories to complete the installation and make your home look beautiful. These accessories are:

• Outside Corner posts
• Inside Corner posts
• J-channel
• Light/electrical box mounts
• Water spigot and other wall protrusion mounts (split mounts)
• Soffit
• Fascia
• Insulation / house wrap (for new construction)
• Starter and finish strips

All these accessories are needed to complete a vinyl siding installation, though they might not be needed for every house. Still, you will always need J-channel and corner posts to conceal edges of the siding panels. All window and door casings need J-channel trim (unless it is a new construction window or door, with a built in J-channel). Soffit and fascia might not be necessary if you have a PVC trim on your house, but most vinyl siding jobs include these. Also, unless you are ok with ugly holes in your siding, you probably want light and water mounts.

Vinyl Siding material prices:

The cost of siding materials is calculated on per square basis (one square is 100 sq. ft.). Square is a term in construction industry that is used to simplify communication between contractors, suppliers and architects, and most contractors will use squares in their pricing.

Vinyl siding is typically sold in cardboard boxes – 2 squares in each box – 24 panels, 12.5 feet long, with 8″ exposure (D4 or double 4″ lap). Though you can buy individual siding panels, the cost will be higher than if you buy a whole box.

Prices for all white vinyl siding, trim and accessories: All trim (J-channel, F-channel, Inside and Outside Corner posts, starter and finish trim comes in 10 feet long sections. All prices for white color. Other colors typically cost 3-5% more.

• 2 square box of “big orange” D4 .042″ clap-board vinyl siding costs $154.00 or $78 / square.
• 3″ face (each side) corner post with 3/4″ channel is $18.98
• Inside Corner – $12.78
• 5/8″ J-channel costs $6.40
• Vinyl starter strip – $5.97
• Finish trim (top lock) – $6.38
• Soffit (12 inch exposure, 12″ long) – $14.81
• 8″ vinyl fascia – $15.96
• Mounting block (for lights / electrical outlets) – $7.35
• Recessed split mount (for water spigots and other wall protrusions) – $10.68

This list pretty much covers the siding materials prices. You will need to add you state or local sales tax to this price, at checkout. The only thing we did not mention here, but you will need them to install your vinyl siding.

These additional items are loose roofing nails, and wall insulation (backer board) or house wrap. A bucket of 2″ loose roofing nails will cost about $25-30 and Fanfold Wall Insulation (Owens Corning Foamular 3/8 in. x 48 in. x 50 ft. – 2 square coverage) will cost $37.48.

Vinyl Siding installation prices ( CONTROVERSIAL MUST READ ):

Here everything is much simpler and more complicated at the same time. Basically most contractors will charge a set amount per square of siding installed, and you can use our siding calculator to estimate your siding installation cost.

In a nutshell, typical siding contractor will charge somewhere between $450-550 per square installed (more for premium siding, difficult installation and other extras). Also you need to account for tear-off (typically old plastic siding, wood shingles / clap-boards or aluminum siding), though if you have wooden siding it really makes no sense to remove it – you should just install insulation over wood siding and apply vinyl siding on top. Also number of window and door wraps will make a difference in overall cost.

Controversial nature of siding business:

The “premium siding places” such as Sears, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Bil-Ray (markets at BJ’s Club now) and other local “premium” siding and home improvement joints will try to upsell you into almost $1000 per square territory, telling you how they stand behind their work and so on and so forth.

In reality – they employ the typical siding contractor (from above) who does the same work for just over half the cost, pay them peanuts, and there is really nothing to stand behind. Unlike roofing installation, where your roof can leak and cause tons and thousand of damages, siding can only buckle when installed incorrectly (for example if siding is nailed too tight, when panel expands, it cannot slide/move left or right, it buckles), or some really crappy work, which you as a homeowner will notice before you issue last payment for the job. Just make sure your contractor caulks the window copping when they install your siding (if of course you are paying them for window metal trim).

… they will Sub-out all work …

Bottom line – whether you hire Joe Shmo Siding Company or a “premium joint siding company” it will be Joe Shmo or guys like them, installing your vinyl siding. Big companies do no not hire installers – they work with sub-contractors to install their siding, windows, doors, etc., and pay the on per-square basis. And the faster the sub-contractor finishes the work (which in return, make quality go down), the faster they can start another project. So it actually is in your interest to hire local guys vs. big name company, because then the quality will be better (most of the time at least)

How do I know? I was that Joe Shmo siding guy working for Bil-Ray – a Florida Company who at the time had Sears contract to do siding, doors and windows installation in New England, and other regions of US, Bil-Ray lost that Sears contract around 2006-2007 due to mismanagement, theft, drug abuse by management, bad overall performance, complaints, etc. Actually, they did not tell us what was the exact reason that Sears did not renew their contract with Bil-Ray, but I saw what was going on in our office (Pawtucket, RI), and I’ve seen how this works form inside, and yes – we got peanuts for our work (very little money that is). And oh boy, do I have some stories to tell …