Vinyl and insulated vinyl
Standard vinyl siding runs $3 to $12 per square foot installed, with a typical full-house project averaging around $12,000.[1]
Insulated vinyl bonds rigid foam directly to the back of each panel and runs $4 to $13 per square foot installed, a premium of a few dollars a foot over standard vinyl for the added insulation and stiffness.[2]
Fiber cement
Fiber cement runs $5 to $14 per square foot installed, spanning plank, panel, and shingle-style profiles.[3]
The 2025 Cost vs. Value Report puts a national fiber-cement siding replacement at a $21,485 job cost against $24,420 recouped at resale, a 113.7% return that outperforms vinyl siding's 96.5%.[4]
Engineered wood and solid wood
Engineered wood siding, made from wood strands bonded with resin, runs $4 to $13 per square foot installed.[5]
Solid wood siding installation costs range from $3 to $10 per square foot, with the wide spread driven by species, grade, and whether it arrives pre-finished.[6]
Steel and aluminum
Steel siding installed runs $4 to $16 per square foot, while aluminum runs $3 to $18, with seamless steel panels using concealed fasteners landing at the top of that range.[7]
Metal siding's spread is wider than any other material here because gauge, coating, and panel profile all move the price independently of each other.
Why the resale math favors fiber cement
Vinyl siding replacement recoups 96.5% of its job cost at resale nationally, while fiber cement recoups 113.7%, according to the same annual report.[4]
That gap doesn't mean vinyl is a poor choice; it means a buyer weighing the two purely on resale math has a real number to weigh, not just a guess about curb appeal.
What drives the spread within a single material
Within vinyl, the gap between $3 and $12 a foot mostly tracks panel thickness and profile: thin builder-grade panels sit at the low end, and thick, dimensional double-4 or shake-style profiles sit at the top.[1]
Fiber cement's range splits sharply by format: lap plank material alone runs as little as $0.70 to $6 a foot, while installed shingle-style profiles run $9 to $22 a foot, more than double the plank price for covering the same wall.[3]
Metal siding behaves the same way. A basic corrugated panel sits well below a seamless steel panel with concealed fasteners, even though both get grouped under one material category in most cost guides.[7]
Turning a per-foot number into a project total
A 1,500-square-foot home sided in vinyl averages around $12,000 installed nationally, while the same wall area in fiber cement runs anywhere from roughly $8,000 to $22,500 depending on the profile chosen.[1],[3]
Those project totals assume a straightforward tear-off and install on a typical single-story wall. Add the removal, house-wrap, and trim addons from the calculator above for a fuller number before you talk to a contractor.
A second story, an unusually cut-up roofline, or a house well above or below these example sizes will move the total further, which the next guide on this site walks through on its own.
None of these totals include a permit fee, since that's set locally rather than by material, so budget it as its own separate line once you know your jurisdiction's rule.