Fiber cement siding now installs for $8.00 to $14.00 per square foot — and on a typical 2,200-square-foot colonial with 2,600 square feet of wall area, that's a $20,800 to $36,400 job for a material that costs maybe $3.50 a foot at the yard. Here's the deal: siding replacement cost in 2026 is a labor story, not a material story. Vinyl runs $4.00 to $8.00 per square foot installed, fiber cement (Hardie and its competitors) runs $8.00 to $14.00, engineered wood lands at $6.50 to $11.00, and real wood clapboard or cedar runs $9.00 to $16.00. I've hung all four in 25 years of residential work, and I'm going to break down where every dollar goes so the bids you collect actually make sense.
The 2026 Price Board: Four Materials, Installed
First, understand what you're measuring. Siding is priced by wall square footage, not floor square footage. A 2,000-square-foot two-story house typically carries 1,800 to 2,400 square feet of siding once you subtract windows and doors. Contractors often quote in "squares" (100 SF), same as roofers.
| Material | $/SF Installed (2026) | 2,200 SF Wall Total | Expected Life | Repaint Cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinyl (standard .042") | $4.00-$6.00 | $8,800-$13,200 | 25-40 yrs | Never |
| Vinyl (premium/insulated) | $6.00-$8.00 | $13,200-$17,600 | 30-40 yrs | Never |
| Engineered wood (LP SmartSide) | $6.50-$11.00 | $14,300-$24,200 | 30-50 yrs | 8-12 yrs |
| Fiber cement (Hardie class) | $8.00-$14.00 | $17,600-$30,800 | 40-50 yrs | 12-18 yrs (ColorPlus longer) |
| Natural wood (cedar/clapboard) | $9.00-$16.00 | $19,800-$35,200 | 30-60 yrs w/ upkeep | 4-7 yrs |
Those installed numbers include tear-off of one existing layer, housewrap, and standard trim. They do not include rot repair, which I'll get to, because that's where every siding budget goes sideways.
Vinyl: Still the Volume King at $4.00-$8.00
Vinyl claims roughly 25% of the U.S. siding market per Census Bureau new-construction characteristics data, and on replacement work it's higher. Standard .042-inch panel installs for $4.00 to $6.00 per square foot. Step up to .046-inch premium or foam-backed insulated vinyl and you're at $6.00 to $8.00 — the insulated product adds an R-value around 2.0 to 2.7 and stiffens the panel so it doesn't ripple. Vinyl's real selling point is the zero-maintenance math: no paint cycle, ever. Its weakness is heat and impact — a string trimmer or a hailstorm will find it, and dark colors on cheap panel can oil-can in southern sun.
Fiber Cement: The $8.00-$14.00 Standard-Setter
Fiber cement is cement, sand, and cellulose pressed into a plank that doesn't burn, doesn't feed insects, and holds paint 3x longer than wood. It's also 2.5 pounds per square foot — about 300 pounds per square — which is exactly why installed cost doubles vinyl. Crews need two or three sets of hands, carbide blades, and dust collection (silica rules under OSHA's respirable silica standard are enforced on cutting stations now). Factory-finished product like ColorPlus adds $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot over primed but pushes the first repaint out to 15+ years. NAHB remodeler surveys consistently put fiber cement at or near the top for cost recovery — the 2026 numbers I've seen put siding replacement at an 80% to 88% return at resale, one of the best of any exterior project.
Engineered Wood and Real Wood
Engineered wood strand siding (LP SmartSide is the brand everyone knows) installs at $6.50 to $11.00. It cuts and nails like lumber, weighs half what fiber cement does, and carries 5/50 warranties. It's my pick for DIY-adjacent owners and for cold climates where fiber cement can chip in freeze handling. Real cedar clapboard at $9.00 to $16.00 installed is beautiful and repairable, but plan on repainting or restaining every 4 to 7 years at $3,500 to $7,000 a cycle — over 30 years, the paint alone can exceed the original install cost. Lumber markets matter here too; check where lumber pricing sits in 2026 before you commit to a wood package, because cedar trim stock has outrun framing lumber by a wide margin.
What Actually Drives Your Number Up or Down
Two identical-size houses can come in 50% apart. These are the levers.
Tear-Off, Layers, and What's Hiding Underneath
Removing one layer of old siding runs $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot including disposal. Two layers (common on houses where vinyl went over original wood) runs $1.50 to $2.50. If the old siding is asbestos-cement shingle — common on pre-1970 homes — abatement is a licensed-contractor job at $6.00 to $12.00 per square foot for removal alone.
Then there's rot. On maybe 40% of the tear-offs I've been around, the crew finds sheathing damage — usually below windows and at deck ledgers. Budget a contingency of 10% of project cost. Sheathing replacement runs $70 to $110 per 4x8 sheet installed. This is why a written per-sheet change-order price belongs in every siding contract before work starts.
Height, Complexity, and Trim
Single-story ranch: easy money, bottom of the range. Two-and-a-half stories with gables, bays, and dormers: add 15% to 30% for staging and cut time. Trim is the silent line item — corners, window/door wraps, frieze, and soffit can add $2,000 to $6,000 on a cut-up house. Aluminum-wrapping old wood windows runs $100 to $250 per opening. And if your house predates 1980, assume no housewrap exists; adding wrap and flashing tape is $0.30 to $0.50 per square foot and is not optional under modern code.
Regional Labor Spread
| Region | Vinyl $/SF | Fiber Cement $/SF |
|---|---|---|
| Southeast | $3.50-$5.50 | $7.00-$11.00 |
| Midwest | $4.00-$6.00 | $7.50-$12.00 |
| Texas/South Central | $3.75-$5.75 | $7.00-$11.50 |
| Mountain West | $4.50-$6.50 | $8.50-$13.00 |
| Northeast | $5.00-$7.50 | $9.50-$14.50 |
| West Coast metro | $5.50-$8.00 | $10.00-$15.00+ |
BLS data has siding and exterior-finish labor up about 4% year over year, and coastal metros carry a 25% to 35% premium over the Southeast on identical scope.
Whole-House Budgets and How to Bid It Right
Here's what complete jobs are actually totaling in 2026, mid-range material, one-layer tear-off, normal trim:
| House | Approx. Wall SF | Vinyl | Engineered Wood | Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,200 SF ranch | 1,400 | $6,300-$8,500 | $10,000-$14,000 | $12,500-$17,500 |
| 1,800 SF two-story | 2,000 | $9,000-$12,500 | $14,500-$20,000 | $18,000-$25,000 |
| 2,400 SF two-story | 2,600 | $11,500-$16,500 | $19,000-$26,500 | $23,500-$33,000 |
| 3,200 SF two-story | 3,300 | $15,000-$21,500 | $24,000-$34,000 | $30,000-$42,500 |
Get three bids with identical scope sheets: material and gauge/thickness specified by name, tear-off layers, housewrap brand, flashing detail at windows, per-sheet rot pricing, trim package itemized, and disposal included. The lowball bid is almost always missing housewrap, window flashing, or trim wraps — the exact items that decide whether the wall leaks in year six. Run your square footage through our construction cost estimator first so you walk in with a defensible range.
One more sequencing note: siding is the project you coordinate with everything else on the exterior. If a roof, gutters, or a home addition is in your five-year plan, sequence siding last — nothing hurts like cutting into two-year-old Hardie to tie in an addition. Same logic applies at grade: if you're planning a new fence along the house, set posts after the siding crew's staging is gone, not before.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to reside a 2,000-square-foot house in 2026?
A 2,000-square-foot house typically carries 1,900 to 2,400 square feet of wall area. At 2026 installed rates, that's $8,500 to $14,500 for vinyl, $13,500 to $23,000 for engineered wood, and $17,000 to $30,000 for fiber cement, including single-layer tear-off and housewrap. Complex trim, extra stories, or rot repair push totals higher — carry a 10% contingency.
Is Hardie siding worth the extra cost over vinyl?
Fiber cement costs roughly double vinyl installed — $8.00 to $14.00 versus $4.00 to $6.00 per square foot. You're buying a Class A fire rating, hail and impact resistance vinyl can't match, a 40-to-50-year service life, and resale value; NAHB-cited remodeler data puts fiber cement cost recovery around 80% to 88%. If you're holding the house 10+ years or live in a hail or wildfire zone, it usually justifies the spread. For a 5-year hold, premium vinyl is the better math.
Can new siding go over old siding instead of tearing off?
Sometimes, and I usually advise against it. Vinyl over flat wood clapboard with furring is code-legal in many jurisdictions and saves $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot in tear-off. But you lose the chance to find rot, you can't install proper housewrap and window flashing, and windows end up recessed. Fiber cement should essentially never go over old siding. The tear-off savings is 8% to 12% of the job; the risk is the whole wall.
How much does rot repair add to a siding job?
Plan for 10% of contract value as a contingency. Sheathing runs $70 to $110 per 4x8 sheet replaced; localized stud or rim repair runs $500 to $2,500 per area. On roughly 4 out of 10 tear-offs, crews find something — most often under windows and around deck ledgers. Get a per-sheet and per-hour change-order rate in writing before signing, so surprises are priced before they're discovered.
What siding lasts the longest?
Fiber cement leads mainstream options at 40 to 50 years with paint cycles every 12 to 18. Premium vinyl goes 30 to 40 with zero maintenance. Engineered wood carries 30-to-50-year warranties with 8-to-12-year repaint cycles. Cedar can hit 60 years but only with religious 4-to-7-year finish maintenance — skip two cycles and its life drops by decades. Brick and stone veneer outlast them all but are a different budget class entirely at $15.00 to $30.00 per square foot.
Your Action Item for This Week
Walk your house with a tape measure and a notepad. Measure each wall's length and height, subtract openings roughly, and total your real wall square footage — don't guess from floor area. Then probe the bottom course of siding below your two worst windows with a screwdriver; soft sheathing there means your budget needs the rot contingency at the full 10%. Multiply your wall footage by $5.00 and by $12.00 to bracket your vinyl-to-fiber-cement range, and you'll have a real number before the first salesman hits your driveway.
