Siding Replacement Seattle WA: Budgeting for Whole-Home Projects

Whole-home siding replacement in Seattle is part building science and part logistics. The material on your walls has to survive months of sideways rain, sudden cold snaps, UV exposure when the clouds part, and the ever-present risk of moisture intrusion that turns a small oversight into structural damage. When you plan a full re-side, you are not just choosing a color and a pattern. You are budgeting for protection, code compliance, warranty coverage, and the right crew to execute cleanly on a home that might not reveal its problems until the old cladding comes off.

I have managed and consulted on Seattle-area projects from compact bungalows in Ballard to sprawling homes in Sammamish. The numbers vary, but the patterns repeat. The owners who budget with a realistic contingency, align timing with weather windows, and choose materials that match their maintenance appetite are the ones who finish on schedule, on budget, and with a calm mind the first winter storm after the last nail goes in.

Three forces shape a siding budget here: the labor market, the hidden condition of your walls, and the materials you pick. Labor is the big fixed factor. Skilled siding contractors in Seattle command higher rates because they carry licensing, bonding, and insurance appropriate for multi-story work with scaffolding and fall protection. The difference between a handyman rate and a pro rate is real, but so is the gulf in quality and recourse if things go wrong.

Hidden conditions are the wildcard. A house can look fine from the street, yet the sheathing resembles a sponge around windows. I have opened walls that smelled like a wet dock, even though the paint looked fresh. Dry rot, delaminated sheathing, and corroded flashings add time and materials, along with a Seattle dry rot inspection to map the damage. This is also where an experienced dry rot repair contractor earns every dollar, because the repair details must tie into your new weather-resistive barrier and window pans, not just patch a hole.

Material choice affects both the upfront check and long-term maintenance. Fiber cement, engineered wood, cedar, and vinyl occupy different lanes in cost, durability, and curb appeal. In Seattle’s marine climate, fiber cement has won a large share because it holds paint well, resists rot, and tolerates wet-dry cycles. Cedar is beautiful and historically correct for many neighborhoods, but it needs discipline: annual washdowns, timely refinishing, and vigilant exterior trim repair around penetrations. Engineered wood has improved, but the install details and moisture management need to be by the book. Vinyl, while cost-effective in many markets, can look out of place in older Seattle neighborhoods and may not age as gracefully under UV and algae growth on the north face.

Across whole-home projects, a realistic ballpark for professional siding replacement services in Seattle WA often lands between 18 and 35 dollars per square foot of wall area, installed, including trim and housewrap upgrades but excluding major structural corrections. A compact one-story 1,200-square-foot rambler with 1,000 to 1,400 square feet of wall surface might come in near the low end if conditions are clean. A three-story Queen Anne with complex gables, historic trim profiles, and narrow staging access will push costs higher. Add 10 to 25 percent for contingencies related to dry rot repair Seattle homes often need, especially around decks, chimney chases, and window heads.

Before you ask for quotes, read your house. Walk the perimeter after a rain. Note any paint bubbling low on walls, soft trim at horizontal joints, staining below window corners, loose or open butt joints on lap siding, and any caulked areas that seem to reopen every season. Photograph everything. Inside, check baseboards on exterior walls for swelling and discoloration, especially beneath windows or sliding doors. A simple moisture meter can confirm suspicions, but do not rely solely on surface readings. If you suspect trouble, hire an independent Seattle dry rot inspection. An objective report will help you compare apples to apples when siding contractors in Seattle price the repair scope.

Houses built between the late 90s and early 2010s with face-nailed fiber cement or composite products sometimes suffer from incorrect clearances to grade and decks. I find rotted bottom courses where the cladding sits in mulch or soil, and swollen sheathing behind deck ledgers with no proper flashing. New codes and manufacturer instructions are stricter for good reason. Budget for new kick-out flashings at roof-wall intersections, head flashings on all horizontal trim, and pan flashings at window sills. These details are not optional in our climate. They are your leak insurance.

Scaffold and access. A typical two-story house with modest landscaping might stay in the 4,000 to 8,000 dollar range for scaffold and fall protection. Add mature hedges, steep slopes, or protected plantings, and you will see extra labor and custom staging that adds a few thousand dollars. On a tight alley lot, material handling slows down and costs inch upward. Plan for it.

Window and door integration. You can keep existing units if they are in good shape, but the perimeter flashing needs to tie into the new weather barrier. If your windows are failing or are single pane relics, it is often smarter to replace them during the re-side. The crew already has access, the WRB is open, and the trim is coming off anyway. Combining scopes avoids paying twice for mobilization and trim removal.

Trim details and profiles. House trim repair can be simple if you stick with clean lines and primed, factory-made profiles that match your new siding system. Complex historic trims require custom milling and extra paint labor. Trim and siding repair overlaps around penetrations like hose bibs, dryer vents, and light fixtures are fussy work. Each penetration adds time, and time is money.

Paint systems. Some fiber cement comes prefinished, which saves time and reduces weather risks during the paint stage. Site painting can be excellent if the crew waits for the right weather windows and uses high-solids exterior coatings. In Seattle, plan your painting around shoulder seasons or stretch to summer. If you must paint during wetter months, build tenting into the plan and accept that it costs more.

Permits and inspections. Many Seattle-area jurisdictions require permits for siding replacement. Fees are not massive, but they exist. More importantly, permits trigger inspections, which is good. It keeps the work transparent and ensures proper flashing and WRB details. Do not budget by skipping permits. It is shortsighted, and you lose leverage if you ever sell.

Fiber cement lap siding remains the workhorse. Installed correctly with rainscreen spacing, high-quality flashing, and proper clearances, it weathers long wet seasons and holds paint. Budget roughly 9 to 16 dollars per square foot installed for mid-range fiber cement on uncomplicated walls, using factory primed boards and site paint. Prefinished boards add cost but may save overall on painting logistics.

Engineered wood products have appealing textures and install quickly. They rely on precise flashing details and diligent maintenance of cuts and ends. If you want the warmth of wood without the full cedar maintenance cycle, this is the middle path. Budget similarly to fiber cement, sometimes slightly higher on complex elevations due to trim systems.

Cedar is the connoisseur choice. It looks right on many older Seattle neighborhoods. It asks for respect: seal every cut end, keep fasteners corrosion-resistant, and plan for periodic refinishing. If you truly love cedar, budget not just for install, which can land in the 16 to 28 dollar per square foot range depending on grade and profile, but also for a maintenance line in your household budget every 3 to 5 years. Do not install cedar and then starve the finish schedule. That is how rot gains a foothold around knots and fasteners.

Vinyl is the budget option in many markets, though less common in upscale Seattle neighborhoods. It sheds water and never needs paint, but it can look out of place against historic or craftsman architecture. If you go this route, specify thicker-gauge panels and pay attention to trim kits around windows for a clean look. It can still perform, but resale perception matters in some zip codes.

For exterior trim, composite options like PVC or fiber cement trim reduce rot risk at corner boards, fascias, and band boards. I often pair fiber cement siding with PVC or fiber cement trim on exposed horizontal surfaces. The up-charge at install tends to pay back in reduced exterior trim repair over the next decade.

Start with a measured takeoff. Your contractor should measure wall square footage, subtract major openings, and add a waste factor consistent with the profile you choose. Lap siding waste can be low on simple runs and higher around bumps and multiple elevations. Curved bays, narrow returns, and plenty of penetrations push waste upward. Verify that the takeoff matches your home’s footprint and story count.

Next, split your budget into knowns and unknowns. The knowns include tear-off and disposal, new WRB and flashings, siding and trim materials, fasteners, paint or prefinish, scaffolding and equipment, and labor for installation. The unknowns live under your existing cladding: localized dry rot, sheathing replacement, framing corrections at window openings, and surprises like improperly flashed deck ledgers. Set a contingency of 10 to 25 percent. On older homes with previous DIY work or known leaks, lean toward the higher end.

Tax and soft costs are not trivial. Permit fees, design consultation if you are matching historic profiles, and any HOA review fees belong in the budget. If you plan a Seattle trim repair scope only for certain elevations, capture it as a separate line so you can defer or adjust without derailing the whole project.

Finally, time is money. A crew that can complete a 2,000 square foot wall area home in three to five weeks under normal conditions will cost less than a dragged-out project that runs through two weather systems and a half-dozen change orders. Evaluate schedules honestly. If you are aligning window replacements, schedule them to land just before or during the re-side. It avoids opening walls twice.

Dry rot is a symptom of moisture trapped where it should not be. In Seattle, the common culprits are failed window flashing, tight-jointed siding without a drainage plane, and horizontal trim that acts like a water shelf. I have found rot that started with a missing kick-out flashing where a roof meets a wall. Water ran behind siding for years, and the sheathing fell apart with a finger push. I have also opened walls where a deck ledger was lag-bolted through the WRB with no flashing. Every rain filled the ledger gap like a trough, feeding fungi that ate everything within reach.

When you contract for siding repair Seattle homeowners often request on targeted elevations, insist on exploratory demolition at suspect zones before finalizing the repair scope. A reputable dry rot repair contractor will price inspection cuts and temporary protection, then return with a clear proposal for structural repairs, sheathing replacement, and integration with the new WRB. If the crew proposes to caulk over soft wood or simply sister a bit of new board onto deteriorated material without addressing water entry, stop the process. You are paying for a leak to return.

Good contractors in this market present details without drowning you in jargon. Look for specifics: which WRB, which tape, how they handle window pans, nail types, clearances to grade, and rainscreen strategy if used. Rainscreen battens or drainage spacers are worth the small premium, especially on shady sides where walls stay damp.

Ask for recent local jobs you can drive by. Look at corner board joins, caulk lines at trim joints, and how well the courses align around windows and doors. Clean lines usually reflect clean process. Verify licensing, bonding, and insurance. Confirm they will handle permits. Ask how they sequence tear-off, WRB install, and exposure to weather. A smart crew tears off only what they can protect and re-clad quickly, especially in a forecast with showers.

Siding contractors in Seattle WA vary in specialization. Some excel at historic exteriors, others in modern fiber cement systems with minimal trim. A few run combined crews that handle siding and window replacement in one sequence. If you need both, that combined approach can reduce gaps and finger pointing. If you only need targeted Trim and siding repair, a smaller outfit with strong carpentry skills may fit and cost less than a full-scale siding firm.

Whole-home projects that go smoothly follow a rhythm. The crew stages access, protects landscaping, and sets debris control. They perform controlled tear-off, expose suspected rot zones early, and coordinate with a Seattle dry rot inspection when deeper pockets of damage appear. They replace sheathing where needed, install new WRB and flashings, and then run siding courses consistently, keeping nail patterns uniform and joints staggered. Trim installs follow with careful end sealing. If painting on site, they prime cut ends, spray and back-roll for even coverage, and watch weather windows carefully, sometimes tenting small areas to push production without gambling on a rain cell.

On remodels, plan your HVAC and electrical penetrations. Dryer vents, bath fans, hose bibs, and hose reels should be located before the crew cuts holes in your new skin. The number of times I have seen a beautiful new corner board drilled for a last-minute spigot is higher than I want to admit. Coordination saves rework and keeps exterior trim repair off your to-do list six months after completion.

If you need to trim costs, consider simplifying trim profiles and reducing accent banding. Keep strong but simple corner boards. Eliminate unnecessary belly bands that create water shelves unless they are architecturally essential. Choose factory-primed materials and a proven site paint system instead of premium prefinished color lines if logistics allow.

Do not cheap out on the WRB, flashing tapes, or fasteners. Stainless fasteners in coastal microclimates or near saltwater make sense, and hot-dipped galvanized is a minimum. Use head flashings on every horizontal trim piece. Install kick-outs at every roof-wall intersection, not just the ones you can see from the street. These details extend siding life more than the brand of paint or the sheen you pick.

Spend on carpentry where water lives: window sills, door thresholds, deck ledgers, and horizontal trim. Thorough seaming and pan flashing here reduces the need for seattle trim repair later. If your budget is tight, stage the project by elevation. Fix the worst walls now with full scope and details, then plan remaining sides for next season rather than doing a quick-and-dirty pass everywhere.

Seattle gives you dry stretches, but not always when you want them. Spring can be promising, then a weeklong drizzle settles in. Fall starts clear, then turns. Summer is safest for painting, yet busy for contractors. If you want the best shot at steady progress, line up your project to start late spring or midsummer, with paint scheduled during the driest month available. On large homes, expect at least one weather interruption and budget for temporary protection and dehumidification for interior-adjacent areas if you open walls near living spaces.

Contractors who know the area build weather float into their timelines. That matters because rushed work to beat a storm leads to misses, like unsealed cut ends or skimpy fastener patterns. Ask how your team handles sudden showers mid-wrap install. A good answer includes temporary membranes, cap fasteners, and sequencing that avoids trapping water behind newly installed siding.

Two warranties matter: the manufacturer’s material coverage and the contractor’s workmanship warranty. Read both. Material warranties often assume flawless installation and proper maintenance. If you let paint fail for years or plant hedges tight against the wall so moisture never dries, the warranty will not save you. A solid local firm will offer a workmanship warranty in the 2 to 5 year range and be around to back it up. Ask about service calls and how they document completed work. Photos of flashing and WRB details during the install help if questions arise later.

Plan seasonal maintenance. Rinse walls annually with a garden hose and a soft brush where algae blooms, especially on north and shaded faces. Keep mulch and soil at least six inches below siding. Keep irrigation heads from wetting walls. Clear gutters and downspouts. These small habits prolong the life of siding and averted more than one call for seattle dry rot repair that started as a clogged downspout.

A two-story 1970s home in Shoreline, roughly 2,300 square https://landenzsyr035.yousher.com/house-trim-repair-guide-for-seattle-s-wet-climate feet with about 1,900 square feet of wall area, needed a full re-side. The owner chose fiber cement lap with 4-inch exposure, fiber cement trim, and site painting. Access was decent on three sides, tight on one side with a hedge. The crew found moderate rot under two second-floor windows and along a deck ledger.

The measured and priced scope broke down like this: scaffold and access at 6,200 dollars, tear-off and disposal at 4,800, WRB and flashings at 2,900, siding and trim materials at 10,600, installation labor at 19,500, site painting at 7,800, permit and inspections at 650, and contingency at 5,000. The dry rot repair added 3,400 for new sheathing, framing corrections around one window, and ledger re-flashing with proper metal and counter-flashing. Total landed around 61,000. The project ran four weeks with two rain delays, and the owner used the contingency strategically, upgrading to PVC for horizontal trim to reduce future exterior trim repair.

Those numbers are not a universal template, yet the structure is useful. That job succeeded because the owner accepted the unknowns, the contractor flagged the risk areas early, and both parties agreed on how change orders would be handled. No surprises at the end, and the first fall storm passed with bone-dry interiors.

Sometimes your budget cannot stretch to a whole-home project. If so, prioritize by risk, not by street view. The south and west walls take more sun and thermal cycling, which opens joints. North walls harbor algae and stay damp, which encourages rot around trim. Any elevation with a complex roof-wall detail deserves attention. If you must phase, repair elevations with known leaks first, combine with targeted House trim repair and proper flashings, then schedule the remaining walls next season. Avoid mixing too many materials or profiles temporarily. The end result should look cohesive, and the water management needs to be continuous, not a patchwork.

If you hire for selective siding repair Seattle crews will often do, ask them to blend new material into existing with smart break lines at corners or trim boards. It looks intentional and keeps future tie-ins clean. Keep documentation of the WRB and flashing details, because when you return to finish the rest, the next team needs to tie into what exists.

When you are ready to sign, insist on clarity. Your contract should spell out the siding profile and exposure, trim material and sizes, WRB brand and type, flashing materials, fastener types, paint or prefinish specifications, surface prep expectations, and site protection standards. It should list allowances for dry rot repair with unit pricing, and it should describe how discovery work is authorized to avoid project stalls.

Payment schedules ought to follow progress, not calendar dates. A modest deposit, a payment after tear-off and WRB installation, another after siding and trim installation, and a final after paint and punch list is common. Do not front-load payments. It keeps both sides motivated to finish well.

If your home shows widespread soft spots near sills, sagging at corners where framing might be compromised, or chronic mildew inside along exterior walls, the project has crossed from cosmetic to structural. Bring in a dry rot repair contractor early and get a Seattle dry rot inspection to chart a precise path. The scope may involve sistering studs, new sheathing, and temporary shoring around large window groups. This adds cost, but it prevents cycling back to open the skin again in a year. Properly executed structural repairs, tied into a well-detailed WRB and flashing system, restore the building envelope to a state where your new cladding can do its main job: shed water and look good doing it.

A whole-home siding replacement is one of those projects you feel as much as you see. The house runs quieter. Drafts around outlets on exterior walls disappear. The walls dry faster after rain, and trim joints stop moving like an accordion with each season. If you choose the right team of siding contractors in Seattle, accept the realities of hidden conditions, and budget with a clear hierarchy of needs, you end up with a home that is ready for a decade of weather with only simple upkeep. That is the return on investing in the unglamorous details behind the paint color.

And when you do spot a nicked trim board or a suspect caulk line two winters from now, call for seattle trim repair while it is small. In this climate, quick attention is cheap insurance.

Seattle Trim Repair
8338 20th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117
(425) 517-1751