Vinyl Siding Cost Estimator
Estimate the cost to replace your home’s siding with vinyl. Enter your footprint and stories — no wall measuring — pick a grade and tear-off option to get wall area, siding squares, and an installed cost range.
Estimate what it costs to re-side your home in vinyl. Enter your home's footprint and stories — no need to measure wall height — pick a grade, and choose whether the old siding gets torn off. You'll get the wall area, the number of siding squares, and an installed cost range.
Home footprint
The outline of your home's ground floor, in feet. You don't need wall height — we estimate ~10 ft per story.
Stories
How many floors of exterior wall. We use ~10 ft of wall per story. Pick 1.5 for a Cape-style home with knee walls.
Vinyl grade
Thicker, higher-grade vinyl costs more but holds color and resists warping better. Insulated vinyl has foam backing for added R-value and rigidity.
Remove old siding?
Whether the old siding has to be torn off and hauled away first. Most replacements do; siding occasionally goes over sound existing walls.
Estimated Total Cost
$14,000 – $25,200
28 squares · standard vinyl · incl. tear-off
Tear-off is included in this total
Removing and hauling away your old siding (about $2,800–$5,600) is folded into the total above. If your installer can side over sound existing walls, switch "Remove old siding" off to drop that cost — but most replacements do require a full tear-off to inspect and repair what's underneath.
Wall area is estimated from your footprint as perimeter × (stories × ~10 ft). We don't subtract windows and doors — cutting waste plus gable, dormer, and trim area typically offset the openings, which keeps the estimate slightly conservative. Installed costs cover standard vinyl siding and labor; they don't include fascia, soffit, trim wraps, or fixing rot, sheathing, or moisture damage found during tear-off. Complex homes — lots of corners, gables, dormers, or hard upper-story access — run higher. This is a planning range, not a quote; get at least three local bids.
💡About this calculator▼
Re-siding a house is a five-figure project, and the quotes can vary wildly — so it helps to walk in already knowing the ballpark. This calculator estimates the installed cost to replace your siding with vinyl, the most popular and cost-effective choice in the country.
The tricky part of any siding estimate is the wall area, because nobody knows their home's exterior square footage off the top of their head — and it's not your interior living area. So instead of asking you to climb a ladder, this tool derives it from your home's footprint (length × width) and number of stories, then converts it into both square feet and "squares," the unit siding is actually sold and quoted in.
From there it applies a real-world installed price range by vinyl grade and folds in tear-off and disposal of the old siding if you need it. The result is a planning range you can use to sanity-check contractor bids — not a single false-precision number, because real quotes depend on your home's details and local labor market.
The estimate is wall area × an installed price per square foot, plus optional tear-off.
First it works out your wall area. It takes your footprint perimeter — that's 2 × (length + width) — and multiplies by the wall height, estimated at about 10 feet per story (a full story of wall plus the band/rim area). A 1.5-story Cape counts as 15 feet. That gives the gross wall area, which it also expresses in squares (1 square = 100 square feet), the unit siding crews quote in.
It deliberately doesn't subtract windows and doors. In practice, the material you waste on cuts plus the extra area from gables, dormers, and trim tends to offset the openings — so billing the full wall area keeps the estimate clean and slightly on the safe side, which is the right direction for a budget.
Then it applies an installed cost per square foot based on the vinyl grade you pick — standard, premium, or insulated — covering both material and labor. If you choose to remove the old siding, it adds a tear-off and disposal line on top. The grade rates and a worked example are below.
📐How it's calculated▼
It's a footprint-to-wall-area conversion, then a price per square foot.
Step 1 — Wall area: Perimeter = 2 × (length + width) Wall area = Perimeter × (stories × 10 ft) Squares = Wall area ÷ 100
Step 2 — Install cost (by grade, per sq ft): Standard vinyl: $4–$7 · Premium: $6–$9 · Insulated: $8–$12 Install cost = Wall area × grade rate
Step 3 — Tear-off (optional): Tear-off = Wall area × ($1–$2 per sq ft) Total = Install cost + Tear-off (if removing old siding)
Example: A 40 × 30 ft, 2-story home in standard vinyl, with tear-off
→ Perimeter: 2 × (40 + 30) = 140 ft
→ Wall area: 140 × (2 × 10) = 2,800 sq ft = 28 squares
→ Install: 2,800 × $4–$7 = $11,200–$19,600
→ Tear-off: 2,800 × $1–$2 = $2,800–$5,600
→ Total: about $14,000–$25,200
So that home lands in the mid-teens to mid-twenties of thousands — right in the typical range for a full vinyl re-side.
📎Source: Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report & industry installed-cost data
🔍Finding your inputs▼
Home footprint (length × width): The outline of your home's ground floor in feet — the two main dimensions, as if you were drawing a rectangle around the house. Pace it off (a normal stride is about 3 feet), measure with a long tape, or read it from a plot plan, appraisal, or county property record. You do not need the wall height. If your home is L-shaped or irregular, use the overall bounding dimensions; the slight over-estimate helps cover the extra corners.
Stories: How many floors of exterior wall to cover. We assume about 10 feet of wall per story, which accounts for the floor structure between levels. Choose 1.5 for a Cape Cod or story-and-a-half home, where the upper half-story has short knee walls. A walk-out basement or tall foundation that will be sided can be treated as an extra half story.
Vinyl grade: Standard is builder-grade vinyl — the budget choice, fine for most homes. Premium is thicker, holds color better, resists warping, and comes in more profiles and colors. Insulated vinyl has rigid foam backing bonded to the panel for added R-value, dent resistance, and a more solid feel — the priciest, but the most durable and energy-aware option.
Remove old siding? Choose Remove old siding if the existing siding will be torn off and hauled away first — the norm for a true replacement, and it lets the crew inspect and repair the wall underneath. Choose Keep / over existing only if a contractor has confirmed the new siding can go over sound existing walls, which skips the tear-off cost.
⚠️Special situations▼
My house is L-shaped or irregular, not a simple rectangle
Use the overall bounding dimensions — the total length and total width as if a rectangle were drawn around the whole house. That slightly overstates the wall area, which is the safe direction for a budget, and it roughly accounts for the extra inside and outside corners an irregular home has (corners add both material and labor). If the home is dramatically L- or U-shaped, you can estimate each wing as its own rectangle and add the wall areas, but for a planning number the bounding-box approach is usually close enough.
Why doesn't it subtract my windows and doors?
Because in real siding jobs the openings are largely offset by two things the simple footprint math leaves out: the waste from cutting panels around windows, corners, and angles (typically 10%+), and the extra wall area from gables, dormers, and the triangular sections under a peaked roof. Deducting openings and then adding those back tends to wash out, so billing the full wall area gives a cleaner, slightly conservative estimate. For a tightly accurate material order, a contractor will measure each elevation and opening directly.
What's a 'square' and why do contractors use it?
A square is 100 square feet of wall — the standard unit the siding trade buys and prices in, just like roofing. Vinyl panels are boxed and quoted by the square, so knowing your square count (shown in the results) lets you talk to contractors in their terms and compare bids apples-to-apples. A typical home needs roughly 15 to 40 squares. When a quote lists a price 'per square,' multiply by your square count to ballpark the material-and-labor portion.
Should I tear off the old siding or side over it?
Tear-off is the norm and usually the better choice for a true replacement. Removing the old siding lets the crew inspect and repair the sheathing and house wrap, fix any rot or moisture damage, and start with a flat, sound surface — problems that, left hidden under new siding, get expensive later. Siding over existing material can save the tear-off cost and is sometimes fine over a single sound layer, but it can trap moisture, telegraph old unevenness, and isn't allowed everywhere by code. Let your contractor's inspection decide; when in doubt, tear off.
What does this estimate leave out?
Quite a bit that can show up on a real quote: trim and corner posts beyond the basics, J-channel and accessories, wrapping fascia and soffit, new house wrap, flashing, gutters, and — importantly — repairs to rotted sheathing or framing that a tear-off uncovers. It also doesn't include permits, scaffolding for tall or steep access, or removing non-vinyl materials like stucco or asbestos siding (which carries special disposal costs). Treat the result as the core siding cost and pad your budget 10–20% for trim, accessories, and the unexpected.
❓Common questions▼
How much does it cost to replace siding with vinyl?
For a typical single-family home, a full vinyl re-side usually runs about $8,000 to $30,000 installed, depending on the home's size, number of stories, vinyl grade, and whether the old siding is torn off. Installed costs generally fall around $4–$7 per square foot for standard vinyl, $6–$9 for premium, and $8–$12 for insulated, plus roughly $1–$2 per square foot for tear-off and disposal. The calculator above estimates your range from your footprint and choices; get local bids for an exact figure.
How do I figure out how much siding I need?
Siding is measured by wall area, not house square footage. The quick method: take your home's perimeter — 2 × (length + width) — and multiply by the wall height (about 10 feet per story) to get the wall area in square feet, then divide by 100 to get 'squares,' the unit siding is sold in. A 40 × 30 ft two-story home, for example, works out to roughly 2,800 square feet, or 28 squares. The calculator does this for you and you don't need to deduct windows and doors — waste and gable area typically make up for them.
Is insulated vinyl siding worth the extra cost?
It depends on your goals. Insulated vinyl costs more — roughly $8–$12 per square foot installed versus $4–$7 for standard — but the foam backing adds a modest amount of R-value, makes panels more rigid and dent-resistant, dampens noise, and gives a higher-end look and feel. The energy savings alone rarely justify the upgrade on payback, much like windows. But if you value the durability, straighter appearance, and added comfort — or you're insulating a poorly insulated wall anyway — many homeowners find it worthwhile. For pure budget, standard vinyl is hard to beat.
Does vinyl siding add value when I sell my home?
Yes — new siding is consistently one of the better-returning exterior projects. National cost-vs-value data typically shows vinyl siding replacement recouping somewhere around three-quarters of its cost in added resale value, and fresh siding strongly improves curb appeal and first impressions, which helps a home sell. As with any remodel, it's added value rather than cash back, and the exact recoup varies by market and year, but among major exterior upgrades, residing tends to pay back relatively well.
Should I remove the old siding before installing vinyl?
Usually yes. Tearing off the old siding lets the contractor inspect and repair the sheathing, replace damaged house wrap, and address any hidden rot or moisture problems before the new siding goes on — the right way to do a lasting job. It adds roughly $1–$2 per square foot for labor and disposal. Going over existing siding can save that cost and is occasionally acceptable over one sound layer, but it risks trapping moisture and hiding problems, and some local codes restrict it. Let an inspection guide the call.