Enough to cover the squares you will actually hang, not enough to match the cheapest postcard on the block. A one-story vinyl wrap with four windows and a two-story fiber-cement tear-off with gables are not the same job, and a flat price per square foot cannot see the difference.
Open the free bid calculatorStart with length × height on each elevation. Subtract openings once — windows and doors are not siding. Convert the remainder to squares (100 sq ft) and add waste. Vinyl often needs about 10%; fiber cement and engineered wood run higher because of cuts and breakage. That waste is material you buy and hours you spend. Leaving it out is how a “measured” bid still comes up a square short.
A ranch is the install you already priced. A second story is not twice the hours, but it is not the same hours either — staging, carrying, and ladder time add a real fraction. Tear-off is its own hours plus a dumpster. Each window and door is wrap and J-channel, not a hole that makes the job cheaper. If those lines are “included” in an $8-a-foot special, they are unpaid.
Starter, outside corners, inside corners, J-channel, and undersill are priced by the foot, not by the square. A small house with many openings can spend as much on trim as on an extra square of siding. Contractors who quote only the field and “figure trim in” are guessing the line that most often blows the takeoff.
An installer paid $32 often costs more than $42 once employer taxes, ladder-and-tear-off workers’ compensation, liability, and paid time off are counted. Overhead sits on top of that direct cost. Margin is a share of the price the customer sees, not a markup you add last and forget. The walk-away number is total cost: below it the job makes nothing, even before you pay yourself.
This is not a manufacturer price list, not a building-code requirement, and not a finding that a wall is weathertight or due for replacement. The starting hours and material figures are ballpark numbers so a contractor can see the shape of a bid. Replace them with times and invoices from your own jobs, confirm measurements on site, and have a qualified professional review anything that has to be signed or insured.
Price this job in the calculator
Charge the hours and material the job will actually take — net wall area plus waste, times stories, plus tear-off, housewrap, openings, linear trim, travel, and a dumpster — then divide cost by one minus your target margin. A flat price per square foot hides the difference between a one-story vinyl wrap and a two-story fiber-cement tear-off.
Waste, height, openings, and tear-off. A gable elevation is not a ranch wall, and twelve windows are not four. A neighborhood special that ignores those lines is how a crew works a week for a three-day price.
No. Starting hours and material figures are editable ballpark numbers, not a manufacturer price list, a code table, or a finding that any wall is weathertight or due for replacement. Confirm measurements on site.