Last updated October 28, 2026

How to bid siding jobs

What a siding bid has to say, a worked full replacement price by the square, the sheathing line that protects you from the rot you cannot see, and the staged payments siding contractors use on a week-long job.

Siding is a big job with one hidden variable: what is behind the old siding. Rotten sheathing, wet insulation, no house wrap. The bid cannot price what it cannot see, so it does the next best thing: a per-sheet price for sheathing, replaced as found, with photos sent before it is replaced. The customer who read that line on the bid pays the invoice. The one who did not argues about it.

What a siding bid has to answer

Squares of siding, the product by brand and profile, and the color. "22 squares of fiber cement lap, 7-inch exposure" is a bid.
What comes off, what goes on under it: tear-off and disposal, house wrap, flashing at windows and doors, and the sheathing line.
Trim: corners, window and door trim, frieze, and soffit and fascia, each counted or each excluded.
Paint or finish: factory-finished, field-painted, or primed for the customer's painter, and whether caulk and touch-up are included.
What is moved and reinstalled: lights, hose bibs, vents, shutters, the satellite dish.

How to price it

Example numbers for a full replacement of 22 squares of fiber cement lap siding on a two-story house, old vinyl removed, new house wrap, trim at windows and corners, in a typical market. Yours will differ.

Tear-off and disposal: $60 to $90 a square with the dumpster. At $75, $1,650.
Material: siding, house wrap, flashing, trim boards, fasteners, caulk, at cost plus markup, $7,900.
Install labor: $350 to $500 a square for fiber cement on two stories. At $425, $9,350.
Trim labor: windows, doors, corners, counted, $2,200.
Sheathing: $85 to $120 a sheet, replaced as found, photos sent first, as a line.
Lights, vents, and fixtures removed and reset: $400.
Total: about $21,500 before any sheathing. $24,800 is a common landing with the lift rental, the margin for a cut-up elevation, and a week of weather risk in it.

Repair-and-match jobs price by the day plus material, with a line that says a perfect color match on faded siding is not possible and the new piece will weather in. Soffit and fascia on their own price by the foot with the material named.

Where siding bids go wrong

No sheathing line. Twenty sheets of rot became a $2,000 argument on day two.
Trim was not counted, and the customer assumed the windows would be wrapped.
The bid said "siding" without the product, and the customer compared it to a vinyl quote.
A repair patch did not match the faded wall, and the bid had not said it would not.

A finished siding bid, line by line

Three sample siding estimates: full siding replacement, siding repair and match, and soffit and fascia replacement. The siding proposal template is the blank version with the sheathing line on it.

Deposit and payment terms

A full replacement runs a week or more, so it is paid in three stages: about thirty percent at signing to order the material, forty at the halfway point when the first elevations are done, and thirty on completion. Repairs take half down and half on completion. Write the halfway milestone on the bid as something the customer can see, like two elevations complete, so the middle payment is not a negotiation.

Getting more siding jobs

Siding customers are spending real money and they are nervous about what is behind the wall. The bid with the squares, the product, the trim counted, and the sheathing line with photos reads as the contractor who has seen rot before and knows what to do with it. Send it within two days of the measure. Put two products on the same bid when the customer is undecided. Follow up at a week. Ask for the review when the last light is reset and the yard is clean, with a before-and-after photo.

BidWriter Pro writes the bid from your notes with the squares, the trim, the sheathing line, and the staged payments on it, signed and deposited from the customer's phone. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Questions contractors ask

How much should I charge per square for siding?

Tear-off per square, material at cost plus markup, install labor per square by product and stories, and trim counted separately. Many markets land between $800 and $1,400 a square installed for fiber cement, with vinyl below and wood or engineered products above.

How do I handle rotten sheathing on a siding bid?

A per-sheet price on the bid, replaced as found, with photos sent to the customer before it is replaced. It is the line that keeps a week-long job from stopping on day two.

How do siding contractors schedule payments?

Thirds, roughly: a deposit at signing for the material, a payment at a visible halfway point, and the balance on completion.

Write a siding bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

Only what you type goes on the estimate. Nothing gets added.

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