Siding replacement cost depends on your house far more than on any average. Published national figures put installed fiber cement at roughly $5 to $14 per square foot and real cedar at roughly $5 to $16, but a Portland-area price can land outside those ranges once rot, trim, height and access are counted. The only number that matters is the one from someone who has stood at your house.
What the published ranges say
Nobody can honestly give a single Portland price off a chart, so here is what public cost guides report. These are national figures, not Six-Point prices, and local labor and material costs can differ.
- Fiber cement (James Hardie type): Fixr’s 2026 data shows roughly $5 to $14 per square foot installed. A siding manufacturer’s cost guide, Progressive Foam, gives about $5.00 to $13.50.
- Cedar: Bob Vila’s cedar siding guide puts it around $5 to $11 per square foot depending on thickness, and This Old House reports a much wider spread between knotty, mid-grade and premium boards.
Those numbers describe the siding itself plus basic installation on a clean wall. Real houses are rarely clean walls. Every house is different, and Dave gives free exact estimates.
What moves the price up or down
The material you pick
Fiber cement and cedar sit in a similar range on paper, but they behave differently over time. Cedar is cheaper to start in some grades and costs more to keep up, because it needs periodic re-staining. Fiber cement with a factory finish is usually the lower-maintenance path. Our Hardie vs. cedar guide goes through that trade-off honestly.
Style matters too. Plain lap is simpler than shingle or board-and-batten patterns, which take more cutting and more time per square foot.
Size, height and layout
Square footage of wall is the starting point, not the whole story. A two-story home needs staging or lifts. Lots of gables, bump-outs, bays and dormers mean more cuts, more flashing and slower progress than a plain box. Windows and doors cut down the wall area, but each one still has to be flashed and trimmed by hand.
What is under the old siding
This is the biggest unknown in most Portland-area jobs. Between 150-odd rainy days a year and wind-driven rain, water finds its way behind old siding, especially at the bottom courses, below windows, and where a roof meets a wall. Once the old siding is off, Dave may find wet or rotted sheathing, framing or trim that has to be fixed before new siding goes on. Nobody can price that perfectly from the driveway, which is why an on-site look matters. Our signs of dry rot guide shows what to check first, and siding repair covers fixing it.
The wall assembly: house wrap, flashing and drainage
Oregon’s residential code requires exterior walls to let water drain out, which usually means a water-resistive barrier plus a drainage gap behind the siding. Doing that properly adds materials and labor compared with nailing siding straight to the wall, and it is the right place not to cut corners. More in our rainscreen and house wrap guide.
Trim, soffit, fascia, windows and doors
New siding looks wrong next to tired trim. Many homeowners bundle trim, soffit and fascia or window replacement into the same project, because the scaffolding is already up and the flashing details overlap. That raises the total, but often lowers the cost of doing it as separate jobs later.
Older-home surprises
Houses built before 1978 may have lead paint on old siding and trim, and certain older materials can contain asbestos. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality lists siding among the places asbestos can turn up and advises treating suspect materials as asbestos-containing until tested. Testing and lead-safe work practices can add cost on the older ranches and Craftsman homes common in Gresham, Troutdale and Portland.
Permits and disposal
Replacing siding that is not required to be fire-resistant usually does not need a building permit in Portland, but work still has to meet code. See our permits guide. Haul-away and disposal of old siding is part of any honest quote.
Why free on-site estimates beat online calculators
Online calculators multiply square footage by an average. They cannot see rot behind a window, a missing kick-out flashing, or a chimney chase that will take half a day. Dave looks at the actual walls, probes suspect spots, and tells you what he sees before giving a number. Wide ranges in published guides are a hint that the job itself, not the product, drives price.
Quick answers
- Is fiber cement more expensive than cedar? Not necessarily. Published ranges overlap, and cedar’s long-term cost includes re-staining.
- Does the price include repairs? Only if the quote says so. Ask for rot repair to be listed separately so you can compare bids fairly.
- Is the cheapest bid a good deal? Check what is left out: wrap, flashing, drainage gap, trim, haul-away.
- Can I side one wall instead of the whole house? Often yes, though matching old and new can be tricky. Ask during the estimate.
- Does Dave do vinyl? No. Six-Point installs James Hardie fiber cement and real cedar.
- How do I compare contractors? Verify the license first. Our guide on how to check an Oregon CCB license takes five minutes.
Get an exact number
Six-Point Siding, Inc. is a family business in Gresham, run by second-generation sider Dave Shaffer with about 40 years of hands-on siding experience. He is on every job, CCB #153635, licensed, bonded and insured. Dave serves the Portland metro and East County, including Gresham and Portland.
Call or text Dave: 503-260-7647. Free estimates.