How much do contractors charge per square for siding?

Installed vinyl commonly runs $250–$600+ per square and fiber cement well above that, but the spread is scope and market, not a menu. Build your number from crew hours, trim density, tear-off, and your overhead — then it defends itself.

How many squares can a siding crew hang per day?

Simple ranches: 12–15 squares of vinyl; cut-up two-stories: 6–10; fiber cement runs slower still. Use your crew's actual history — three past jobs beat any published average.

What makes two siding quotes differ by thousands?

Tear-off layers, wrap, sheathing allowance, trim replacement vs. reuse, and access. Itemized quotes make the difference legible; blended per-square prices start arguments.

Field guide

How Much to Charge for Siding — a Method That Survives the Wall

Per-square folklore is the worst pricing tool in siding, because "a square" hides everything that costs money: what's under it, how high it is, and how many openings interrupt it. Here's the build-it method with a worked example.

The formula

Price = (crew hours × loaded crew cost) + materials + tear-off + allowances, ÷ (1 − target margin). Loaded crew cost includes wages, taxes, comp, and overhead share. The divide step is non-negotiable — cost × margin under-prices every job.

Worked example: 22 squares vinyl, one tear-off layer, two-story rear

Tear-off: 22 sq, single layer, 14 crew-hours + $450 dumpster.
Wrap and flashing: materials $520, 6 crew-hours.
Sheathing allowance: 4 sheets included ($180 + 3 hours), per-sheet overage in terms.
Hang: mixed elevations at ~1.6 crew-hours/square ≈ 35 crew-hours; panels/accessories $4,300.
Trim density: 15 openings + corners + 90 lf fascia ≈ 16 crew-hours, material in accessory number.
Crew hours: 74 × $95/hr loaded two-man ≈ $7,030. Direct cost ≈ $12,480.
At 35% margin: 12,480 ÷ 0.65 ≈ $19,200 — about $873/square, and every dollar traceable.

Why the traceability matters

When the customer shows you a $14,000 competing bid, an itemized quote lets you compare scopes instead of defending a number: does theirs carry tear-off? wrap? the allowance? Half the time the cheaper bid is a different (smaller) job. Yours proves it.

Automate the arithmetic, keep the judgment

FieldSquire runs this method from a narrated walkthrough — your rates, your allowances, margin applied privately — and produces the signable PDF on site. Pressure-test your margin on the free margin calculator, then take the siding estimating app to one bid, free for 14 days.

Try it on a real job: FieldSquire's Solo plan is free for 14 days with no credit card — unlimited manual estimates and AI-assisted drafts you review line by line. Start the free trial or see the siding estimating app guide.