The Cost Desk

Cost estimate

Vinyl siding replacement

What replacing the siding on a house with new vinyl can cost per square foot of wall, built from published wages, shelf prices and contractor cost data.

Data last checked . Every input is dated below.

Which vinyl panels?

Georgia-Pacific Vision Pro style panels, the common shelf product.

sq ft

Wall area, not floor area: the distance around the house times its height, less the windows and doors. A two-story house of about 2,000 sq ft of floor often has 1,800 to 2,400 sq ft of wall.

Not sure of the wall area? Work it out from the house
sq ft

About 1,420 sq ft

We treat the house as a rectangle 1.5 times as long as it is wide (158 feet round), 9 feet of wall, 2 gable ends on a 6 in 12 roof, then take off 15% for windows and doors. Bump-outs, porches and garages add wall.

Adjusts labor (state wages for this trade), materials and permits (state price levels). Permit fees are a rough stand-in; towns vary.

Fine-tune the estimateoptional

Know what your materials cost or how long the crew will take? Move a slider and the estimate follows. It stays in your browser.

0.05 hours per sq ft
0.015Ours: 0.03 to 0.070.106
$1.6 per sq ft
$0.56Ours: $1.15 to $2.07$3.12

Stays in your browser. We only place it against the range.

Typical cost

Planning range $5,700 to $18,300

About $6.66 per sq ft, typical.

Where the money goes

  • Labor$3,65030%
  • Materials$3,20027%
  • Permits and inspections$1902%
  • Haul-away and disposal$3203%
  • Contractor overhead and profit$4,65039%

For information only. A planning range, not a quote. We take care, but our sources can lag and so can we, so a figure may be out of date. It combines the low end of every input and the high end of every input, so it is deliberately wide. Real quotes can still fall outside it.

What moves the price

The same job can quote very differently. These are the usual reasons.

The siding itself
Basic vinyl sits at the low end. Thicker panels, insulated vinyl, fiber cement, wood and metal cost more, and fiber cement takes longer to install.
Tear-off and the wall underneath
Removing old siding, and repairing any rotted sheathing or framing under it, adds time and parts. Older homes more often need it.
Trim and shape
Many corners, gables, windows and doors mean more trim pieces and more cutting. A plain box house costs less per square foot.
Height and access
Second stories, steep lots and scaffolding or lifts add labor.
House wrap and insulation
New house wrap is included here. Adding foam board or fixing flashing around windows is extra.
Lead paint or asbestos
Homes built before 1978 may need lead-safe practices, and older cement siding can contain asbestos. Both add cost and are not in these figures.

The same job at other sizes, and in each state

Both tables use the same estimate as the calculator above and its first choice, standard vinyl panels. They are here to read across; the calculator takes your own size and state.

Estimate at five sizes, US average
SizeTypicalRangePer sq ft
500 sq ft$3,550$1,650 to $5,450$7.12
1,400 sq ft$9,400$4,400 to $14,400$6.71
2,250 sq ft$14,900$7,100 to $22,800$6.63
3,150 sq ft$20,800$9,900 to $31,600$6.59
4,000 sq ft$26,300$12,500 to $40,000$6.57

Small jobs cost more per sq ft because a contractor has a minimum charge, and the per-unit figure falls as the job grows until the minimum no longer applies.

Cost by state, at 1,800 sq ft
Estimate by state and the District of Columbia at 1,800 sq ft
StateTypicalRangeAgainst the US average
Alabama$10,200$5,000 to $15,300−15%
Alaska$13,800$6,400 to $21,200+15%
Arizona$11,100$5,300 to $16,900−7%
Arkansas$10,200$5,000 to $15,500−15%
California$13,700$6,400 to $21,000+14%
Colorado$12,000$5,700 to $18,300about the same
Connecticut$12,200$5,700 to $18,600+1%
Delaware$11,500$5,500 to $17,600−4%
District of Columbia$12,400$5,900 to $18,900+3%
Florida$10,600$5,200 to $16,000−12%
Georgia$10,400$5,100 to $15,700−13%
Hawaii$14,800$6,800 to $22,800+23%
Idaho$10,800$5,200 to $16,500−10%
Illinois$13,700$6,300 to $21,000+14%
Indiana$11,700$5,500 to $17,900−3%
Iowa$10,800$5,200 to $16,500−10%
Kansas$11,000$5,300 to $16,800−8%
Kentucky$10,700$5,200 to $16,200−11%
Louisiana$10,200$5,000 to $15,500−15%
Maine$11,600$5,500 to $17,700−3%
Maryland$12,500$5,900 to $19,100+4%
Massachusetts$13,400$6,100 to $20,600+11%
Michigan$11,400$5,400 to $17,400−5%
Minnesota$12,500$5,900 to $19,100+4%
Mississippi$10,100$5,000 to $15,300−16%
Missouri$11,700$5,500 to $17,900−2%
Montana$11,200$5,300 to $17,000−7%
Nebraska$10,600$5,100 to $16,100−12%
Nevada$12,200$5,700 to $18,600+1%
New Hampshire$11,800$5,600 to $18,000−2%
New Jersey$13,000$6,100 to $19,900+9%
New Mexico$11,000$5,300 to $16,700−9%
New York$13,400$6,300 to $20,600+12%
North Carolina$10,300$5,000 to $15,600−14%
North Dakota$11,000$5,300 to $16,700−8%
Ohio$11,300$5,400 to $17,300−5%
Oklahoma$10,000$4,900 to $15,200−16%
Oregon$12,800$6,000 to $19,600+7%
Pennsylvania$11,700$5,600 to $17,900−2%
Rhode Island$11,700$5,500 to $17,900−2%
South Carolina$10,800$5,200 to $16,300−10%
South Dakota$10,300$5,000 to $15,600−14%
Tennessee$10,600$5,100 to $16,100−11%
Texas$10,400$5,100 to $15,800−13%
Utah$10,800$5,200 to $16,400−10%
Vermont$11,500$5,500 to $17,500−4%
Virginia$11,200$5,400 to $17,000−6%
Washington$13,600$6,300 to $20,900+13%
West Virginia$10,700$5,200 to $16,300−10%
Wisconsin$11,700$5,500 to $17,800−3%
Wyoming$11,100$5,300 to $16,900−7%

Each state's wages for this trade, material price level and permit level are applied to the same job. They are statewide averages; towns within a state differ, and an expensive city and a rural county can sit far apart.

How we got these numbers

Labor, parts, overhead and permits, added up. Each assumption below says how solid it is.

Checked sourcePublished, secondhandOur estimate
  • Our estimateLabor hours of 0.03 to 0.07 a square foot of wall (3 to 7 hours per 100 sq ft, including tearing off old siding, house wrap, trim and panels) are our estimate: we found no time study. For a 1,800 sq ft job that is 54 to 126 hours across the crew.
  • Checked sourceMaterials of $1.15 to $2.00 a square foot start from Lowe's Georgia-Pacific vinyl panels at $0.82 to $1.19 a sq ft, house wrap at $0.09 to $0.13, and allowances for J-channel, corner posts, starter strip, fasteners, caulk and flashing. The top end covers thicker, insulated and premium vinyl we did not price.
  • Our estimate10% waste covers cut ends and mistakes.
  • Our estimateDisposal of $0.05 to $0.30 a square foot covers hauling away the old siding.
  • Checked sourcePermit fees of $100 to $285: siding permits cost $100 to $190 in the official city fee schedules we read (Auburn CA, Pleasanton CA, Albany NY; a small sample, not a national survey); the top end allows for surcharges and higher-priced places.
  • Checked sourceWages are for carpenters; BLS publishes no separate siding installer wage.
  • Checked sourcePayroll costs of 18% to 25% of wages follow the Census 2022 figure for siding contractors (fringe benefits 21.5% of payroll).
  • Checked sourceOverhead and profit of 45% to 70% is added on top of wages with payroll costs, materials, permits and disposal. Census 2022: siding contractors' receipts were 60.5% above direct cost; NAHB's remodeler study gives 43%.
  • Checked sourceCross-check: the Census figure of $189 of work per field labor-hour for siding contractors. Our typical figure works out within a factor of two of it. No federal cost database covers siding.
  • Not includedPainting, fascia and soffit, gutters, new windows, foam insulation, and repairs to the wall structure are not included.
  • Checked sourcePremium vinyl panels: Materials of $1.80 to $2.69 a square foot: panels at $1.47 to $1.88 a square foot (Georgia-Pacific 9-inch double panels at $13.33 and $17.05 for 9.09 sq ft, Lowe's Central Columbus, 5 Nov 2026) plus $0.33 to $0.81 for house wrap, J-channel, corner posts, starter strip, fasteners, caulk and flashing, as for standard panels. Insulated (foam-backed) vinyl is not on Lowe's shelves, so it is not priced here.

Sources

Where each input comes from, and when we last looked.

Related project costs