Average siding replacement cost in 2026
For a typical detached single-family home in 2026, a full siding replacement lands somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 installed. That is a wide range, and the reason it is wide is simple — the material you pick is by far the biggest variable, followed by how much prep work the existing walls need before any new siding goes up.
The other thing to know up front is that the square footage of your siding is not the same as the square footage of your house. A 2,000 square foot two-story home usually has between 2,500 and 3,000 square feet of exterior wall once you account for both floors, gables, and dormers. Contractors quote in wall square feet, so a $10 per square foot vinyl job on that house is roughly $25,000 to $30,000 — not $20,000.
Most homeowners we hear from are surprised by the gap between the per-square-foot number in a Google search and the final bottom-line quote. The math is rarely wrong on either side — the search result usually quotes material only, and the quote includes labor, tear-off, trim, and waste.
Typical mid-range full siding replacement on a 2,500 sq ft two-story home in 2026.
Cost by material
Here is what installed siding costs look like in 2026, broken down by material. These are working ranges that include labor and basic accessories but not tear-off, sheathing repair, or upgraded trim packages.
Vinyl: $4–$12 per square foot installed. The bottom of that range is builder-grade vinyl in a single common color. The top is insulated vinyl with a thicker profile, a deeper grain, and premium colors. Total job runs $10,000–$25,000 on most homes.
Fiber cement (Hardie board): $9–$20 per square foot installed. The wide range reflects pre-painted ColorPlus product versus primed-only, plus the higher labor cost of cutting and handling fiber cement. Total job typically lands $20,000–$45,000 or more.
Engineered wood (LP SmartSide): $7–$14 per square foot installed. Lighter and easier to cut than fiber cement, which keeps labor down. Total job usually $18,000–$35,000.
Cedar and other real wood: $8–$18 per square foot installed. Cedar shingles run higher than cedar bevel siding. Total job often $25,000–$50,000 and up.
Stucco (traditional three-coat): $9–$15 per square foot installed. Includes lath, scratch coat, brown coat, and finish coat. Costs more in regions where stucco is uncommon and crews have to travel.
Brick veneer: $14–$30 per square foot installed. The labor is the cost — brick itself is not especially expensive, but bricklayers are, and a full re-clad takes weeks rather than days.
Manufactured stone veneer: $15–$28 per square foot installed. Real adhered stone veneer, not the lick-and-stick foam panels. Often used on accent walls rather than full elevations because of cost.
Metal and steel: $10–$20 per square foot installed. Standing seam and corrugated steel have become mainstream residential options in the last few years, especially in modern designs.
What's in the per-square-foot price versus added as upgrades
When a contractor quotes you a per-square-foot rate, what is usually included is the siding panels themselves, basic starter strip and J-channel, standard nails or screws, house wrap, and labor to install all of the above. What is usually not included is anything you can see at the edges of your house.
Corner posts, window and door trim wraps, soffit, fascia, freight on long-lead-time colors, jobsite dumpster, permit fees, and any custom flashing details typically appear as line items above and below the per-square-foot base. On a $25,000 base quote, these add-ons routinely tack on another $3,000 to $6,000 by the time you sign.
The honest contractors break this out clearly. The less honest ones bury it in a single round-number quote that gets “clarified” mid-project with change orders. Either way, you want to see every add-on broken out before you sign.
Tear-off and substrate repair — the hidden costs
If your existing siding is coming off (and it usually should), expect $1–$3 per square foot for tear-off and disposal. On a 2,800 square foot wall job, that is roughly $2,800–$8,400 just to get back to a clean substrate before the new product goes on.
Then there is whatever the crew finds underneath. Rotten sheathing, missing or damaged house wrap, water-damaged framing around windows and chimneys — all of it costs more to fix once it is exposed. Most siding contractors quote sheathing repair at $1–$4 per square foot of replaced area, and the “area” on an older home can be larger than anyone hopes.
This is the line item that most often blows the budget. Get a written change-order policy before the job starts. Specifically, what hourly rate or unit price applies to discovered repairs, and what dollar threshold triggers a phone call before they keep working.
Trim, soffit, fascia — usually quoted separately
Walk around your house and look up. The horizontal board running along the bottom edge of the roof is the fascia. The flat surface under the roof overhang is the soffit. Most siding replacement quotes are for the wall siding only — not these pieces.
Replacing aluminum or vinyl soffit and fascia adds $8–$15 per linear foot installed. On a typical home with 200 linear feet of eave, that is another $1,600–$3,000. If you are going to update siding, doing soffit and fascia at the same time makes sense — the access scaffold is already up, and replacing one without the other often leads to color mismatches.
Window and door trim is the other quiet upcharge. Aluminum trim wraps around existing wood trim cost about $35–$80 per opening installed. A home with 20 windows and three exterior doors can add $1,000 or more for trim wraps alone.
How to compare siding quotes
Three quotes is the floor, not the goal. The point of multiple quotes is not just to find the cheapest number — it is to learn what the job actually involves so that the cheapest number doesn’t turn out to be a different job entirely.
When you compare quotes, line them up on the same spreadsheet and check that every contractor is quoting the same scope. Same material, same gauge or thickness, same color line (some colors are upcharges), same trim package, same tear-off plan, same warranty terms. If one quote is $8,000 lower than the other two, the question is what got dropped.
Also ask each contractor what they expect to find behind your existing siding and how they handle it. The contractor who says “we’ll see what’s there and bill T&M for repairs” is not necessarily worse than the one who promises a fixed price — but you need to know which one you are signing with.
Insurance and siding — partial versus full replacement
If hail or wind damages part of your siding, your homeowners policy may pay for repairs. The fight is almost always about whether the insurer pays for matching siding on undamaged walls when the original color or product line is no longer available.
Some states have matching-coverage laws or insurance department bulletins that require carriers to address the mismatch. Other states leave it to policy language, which usually requires only that the carrier restore the damaged section. A typical scenario: hail damages the east elevation, the original siding has been discontinued, and the closest match looks visibly different. The carrier wants to pay for just the east wall. You want a full re-clad.
Document everything. Get the contractor to put the mismatch in writing with photos. If you have a public adjuster or a contractor experienced with insurance claims, this is where they earn their fee. The dollar gap between “one wall” and “whole house” can be $15,000 or more.
The bottom line
Plan for a real number, not the per-square-foot quick estimate. On a typical 2,500 square foot wall area in 2026, vinyl realistically costs $15,000–$28,000 all in, fiber cement runs $28,000–$50,000, and brick or stone veneer is comfortably above $40,000 once trim and prep are included.
Get every accessory and prep item in writing, agree on a change-order process before tear-off, and treat the per-square-foot number as a starting point rather than a final answer. The homeowners who get fair pricing are the ones who ask boring, specific questions on the front end — not the ones who chase the lowest bid.