Estimating by trade
Siding estimating software: the squares are easy, the trim is the bid
Siding jobs are lost on the lines that never make the flyer: tear-off and disposal, corner posts and J-channel, soffit and fascia, wrapping every opening, and the rot you find behind the third course. BuiltSum ships those as assemblies alongside vinyl, fiber cement and wood siding, priced with your crew rate, burden and markup. The estimator below is live — load the siding pack and try a real elevation.
Live estimator
Tear-off & prep
Vinyl
Fiber cement
Engineered & wood
Soffit & fascia
Openings & accessories
Factors
Pack v2026.08: starting defaults for a mid-market US crew — edit any unit cost or production rate below to your numbers. Save estimates to your account and these become your own price book.
| Description | Qty | Unit | Mat $/unit | Labor hr/unit | Material | Labor | Price |
|---|
- Material
- $0.00
- Labor hours
- 0
- Labor (burdened)
- $0.00
- Cost
- $0.00
- Markup
- $0.00
- Bid price
- $0.00
The chain: this estimate → schedule of values → monthly AIA-style pay applications. All free, and saved in your browser until you put it in an account.
Vinyl, fiber cement and wood
Double-4 vinyl, shake and board-and-batten accents, prefinished fiber cement lap and panel, engineered wood, cedar shingle sidewall — each with its own production rate and waste built in.
Tear-off and prep priced honestly
Removal by existing material, housewrap with taped seams, rigid foam add-on, and a sheathing-repair allowance line — so hidden rot becomes a change order with a unit price you already quoted.
Trim and openings as their own lines
Corner and J-channel LF, soffit and fascia, aluminum opening wraps per window, mounting blocks and shutters. The second-story factor keeps tall walls from eating the margin.
Repaint instead of re-side? The painting pack carries exterior spray-and-backroll assemblies. For commercial contracts, pair the estimate with the free pay application generator and the schedule of values builder.
Assemblies in this pack
19 assemblies ship in pack 2026.08. Every material cost and labor rate below is a starting default for a mid-market, non-union crew — edit any of them, and your own won jobs become the defaults over time.
Tear-off & prep
- Remove existing vinyl or aluminum siding + disposalSF
- Remove existing wood or fiber cement siding + disposalSF
- Housewrap — wrap, tape seams, flash openingsSF
- Rigid foam sheathing add-on — 1" over wallSF
- Sheathing repair — cut out rot, re-sheet OSBSF
Vinyl
- Vinyl lap siding — .044 double 4, over prepped wallSF
- Vinyl shake / board-and-batten accentSF
- Corner posts, J-channel & utility trimLF
Fiber cement
- Fiber cement lap siding — 8.25" prefinished, blind-nailedSF
- Fiber cement panel + battenSF
- Fiber cement trim boards — 4/4 corners, bands, friezeLF
Engineered & wood
- Engineered wood lap siding — prefinished, 16 ft lengthsSF
- Cedar shingle sidewall — R&R grade, 5" exposureSF
Soffit & fascia
- Vented soffit — vinyl or aluminum, to 24" overhangLF
- Aluminum fascia wrap — brake-formed on siteLF
Openings & accessories
- Window/door trim wrap — aluminum coil, per openingEA
- Mounting block — light, outlet, hose bibEA
- Shutter pair — remove & reinstall or new vinylEA
Factors
- Second-story / steep-site factor — staging & ladder timeSF
Frequently asked questions
How do you estimate a siding job?
Wall area first, then everything the wall area hides. Measure gross wall SF per elevation, deduct openings over 20 SF, then add the lines that decide the margin: tear-off and disposal, housewrap, corner and J-trim LF, soffit and fascia LF, and a wrap price per opening. The assemblies on this page carry that split — enter the quantities and labor hours, material and price come out with your rates applied.
Is there siding takeoff software that also prices the job?
Mostly not — the tools that measure siding from photos or plans hand you squares and leave pricing to a spreadsheet. BuiltSum starts at the pricing end with real vinyl, fiber cement and wood assemblies, and browser takeoff will feed those same assemblies when it ships. Until then, quantities come in by hand or by CSV.
How is fiber cement priced differently from vinyl?
Slower hang rates, heavier waste discipline, and trim that costs real money. The pack carries fiber cement lap, panel-and-batten and 4/4 trim boards as separate lines with their own production rates, so switching a bid from vinyl to fiber cement is a reprice, not a rewrite.
Can I bill a commercial siding contract from the same estimate?
Yes. An accepted estimate becomes a schedule of values, and each month you bill it as a G702/G703-style pay application with retainage and change order rollup — the part siding-specific tools skip entirely.
Estimate it once. Bill it every month.
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