Colorado 2026 Average Siding Replacement Cost:
$19.15 / Sq Ft | $30,640 total
2,000 Sq Ft home / 1,600 Sq Ft siding area / James Hardie Primed 8.25" HardiePlank / 490 LF 3.5" HardieTrim / standard site access.
The average cost of siding replacement in Colorado is $30,640 in 2026, or $19.15 per sq ft installed. This applies to an average 2,000 sq ft home with 1,600 sq ft of siding area, and includes full tear-off, housewrap, flashing, James Hardie Primed 8.25" HardiePlank, standard 3.5" trim, permit, and disposal.
If you prefer James Hardie ColorPlus, the factory-applied finish that eliminates field painting, expect $20.00–$22.50 per sq ft, or approximately $32,000–$36,000 on the same home. The difference is explained in detail below.
A note on our data: Most examples and charts in this guide use James Hardie fiber cement pricing, the product we install most, and where our cost data is most accurate. We have completed hundreds of Hardie installs across the Front Range using real job data. Vinyl and LP SmartSide ranges are included for comparison.
In this guide, we break down:
- Realistic siding cost ranges for small, average, and large homes
- What drives siding cost up or down — including hidden costs
- Cost of Vinyl vs Fiber Cement vs Engineered Wood siding
- How siding style and exposure size affect the total installed price
- When repair makes more financial sense than full replacement
- How to compare contractor estimates and bids properly
What Affects Siding Replacement Cost in Colorado?
8 main factors drive siding cost up or down on Colorado homes.
1. House Size and Wall Area
Larger exterior walls require more material and labor. However, a larger house doesn't always mean more siding. Many Colorado homes have brick, stucco, or metal cladding that doesn't need replacement. Some of our customers have painted existing brick to complement new siding, reducing scope and cost while still getting a great result. Generally, you can calculate your siding area to be at 80% of the home's square footage for a standard two-story home. Even less if you have brick, stone, or stucco accents.
2. Siding Removal Costs
Full removal of existing siding down to the sheathing (the wood exterior/structural layer of your home, which is fastened to the studs and is the “wall” between the interior and exterior) is the correct approach for most installations. The cost of tearing off your siding, cleaning up, dumpster rental, and landfill disposal costs approximately $2.35 per sq ft. Multiple existing siding layers add approximately $0.85 per sq ft. per additional layer.
3. Moisture Protection and Flashing
New housewrap (protective moisture-resistant wrapping that goes over your sheathing, before new siding is installed), along with wrapping exterior wall penetrations, and providing metal flashings where siding will meet brick, concrete driveways, and even landscaping. All horizontal trim pieces over windows, doors, and accent trims will also require flashing (we generally refer to this as “Z” flashing)
This work is slow and labor-intensive, and is the labor and products most commonly removed on low bids. It is also the most common cause of long-term siding failure. This step contributes significantly to the overall cost of siding replacement, but it is time and money well spent. Skipping or cutting corners around flashing is tempting, but it is certainly not worth it if you want your siding to look good, last a long time, and avoid expensive siding problems in the future.
4. Window and Corner Trim Detail
Standard 3.5" trim around windows, doors, and corners is included in most professional siding installations at $5.00 per lineal foot installed. Wider accent trim like belly bands, frieze boards, and skirt boards cost more per foot and tend to increase the total cost quite a bit.
Exterior Siding Trim Options and Costs
5. Home Height and Jobsite Access
For most “average” two-story homes, there will not be any increase to labor pricing since there are no major labor differences between accessing a 1st vs 2nd story siding job. This does assume that the siding installers are using the right equipment (pump jacks or basic scaffolding system), which makes accessing a 1 vs. 2-story wall quite easy. Standard 1 vs 2-story height creates minimal cost difference when proper pump jack equipment is used. Cost increases due to difficult access: steep grades, rocky terrain, tight lots, or limited staging areas.
Difficult site access: –20% labor cost increase
Easy-access suburban homes (Broomfield, Thornton, Westminster): %5–10% less in labor vs difficult-access locations
Real project example: A home outside Lyons, CO had its backside built into a rocky cliff; pump jacks couldn't be used on roughly half the structure. Total project cost increased by approximately 14% due to additional access labor and staging time. Similar situations occur regularly in Estes Park, Golden, Boulder foothills, and Summit County.
6. Siding Material and Style Options
There are two siding material factors that drive the cost of siding material. One, the type of siding material, and two, how the siding is installed. Most pricing articles explain material differences but ignore labor implications entirely.
7. Siding Installation Techniques
Improper installation is one of the most common reasons siding systems fail prematurely.
Blind nailing vs. face nailing: Hardie and LP SmartSide are designed to be blind nailed per manufacturer specifications. Face nailing is faster but wrong because it voids warranties and creates moisture entry points at every nail head.
Rain screen installation: An air gap between housewrap and siding that improves drainage and drying performance. Adds approximately 8–15% to project cost. Worth discussing for high-moisture environments.
Caulking and joint treatment: All cut edges on fiber cement must be back-primed and sealed. Rushing caulking at joints, corners, and penetrations is a leading cause of premature failure.
8. Hidden Costs
Additional siding layers: +$0.85 per sq ft per layer removed
Sheathing repair: $85–$110 per sheet installed — cannot be determined without opening walls
Permits: $250–$600 depending on municipality
What this chart tells you: The siding itself, material, and labor combined, is 51% of the total cost. Tear-off and contractor overhead each come in at 13%. Underlayment and flashing is 12% — the line item most commonly cut on low bids, and the most common cause of long-term siding failure.
On contractor overhead and insurance: It is common in the siding industry for contractors to use subcontracted installation crews with little or no workers' compensation coverage. This reduces their bid price but transfers liability to you — if an uninsured installer is injured on your property, that liability can fall on the homeowner. Before signing any contract, confirm that there are certificates of insurance for both the company and the installation crew.
Standard vinyl occupies the lower end of the vinyl range. Premium vinyl composites such as Alside Ascend — a co-extruded polymer with meaningfully better dimensional stability and impact resistance than standard PVC — can approach the upper end and overlap with LP SmartSide pricing. Ask your contractor exactly which vinyl product is being proposed.
A few things worth noting from the siding comparison chart/numbers above. The gap between vinyl and James Hardie fiber cement siding narrows on larger homes. This is not because Hardie gets cheaper, but because the fixed costs of mobilization (what contractors like us call “getting the job ready”), disposal, and contractor overhead spread across more square footage. LP SmartSide consistently lands $3,000–$5,000 below Hardie on an average home — that gap represents real differences in fire resistance, dimensional stability, and long-term track record, not just brand premium. And vinyl, while the lowest installed cost, carries meaningful performance tradeoffs in Colorado's climate. It simply does not perform well in terms of hail impact, temperature swings, fire risk, and UV resistance that we are covering in detail in our James Hardie vs. LP SmartSide Comparison Guide.
Siding Style Options and How They Change Your Total Price
Most homeowners assume a smaller siding exposure just means a different look. It doesn't; it changes the math of the entire installation.
Standard 8.25" lap siding provides 7" of exposure. A 5.25" profile provides 4" of exposure, covering significantly less wall per board. In practical terms:
Material cost per sq. ft. increases roughly 23%
Installers must handle 75% more courses of siding to cover the same wall
Labor efficiency drops significantly: typically, a 40–60% increase in installed labor
Siding Repair vs. Replacement: How to Decide
Repair may make sense when:
- Damage is isolated, and the rest of the siding system is structurally sound
- No moisture has penetrated the wall assembly behind the damaged area
- The existing material can be responsibly matched, and the repair will hold
- Resale is not happening anytime soon
Full replacement is typically the right call when:
- Moisture intrusion is confirmed. The single strongest indicator. Spot repair addresses the surface; the wall damage continues underneath.
- The existing product cannot be reliably repaired. Older engineered wood products like original LP hardboard and Masonite have well-documented failure patterns.
- You are preparing for resale. Partial repairs on aging siding raise more questions than they answer for buyers and inspectors.
- Fire protection is a factor. For foothills homeowners in Boulder, Golden, Fort Collins, Estes Park, and surrounding areas, replacing combustible siding with non-combustible fiber cement is a meaningful risk reduction decision. Insurance carriers in high fire-risk zones are increasingly aware of this distinction.
- Paint costs make replacement the better ROI. A full repaint on a 2,000 sq ft Front Range home runs $8,000–$15,000 and needs repeating every 10–15 years.
- When aging siding also needs repairs before painting, the combined cost often approaches that of new fiber cement with a factory finish warranty. This math has shifted significantly as paint costs have risen.
A good contractor will recommend repair when repair is the right answer. If every contractor you talk to recommends full replacement on a home where repair is genuinely sufficient, that is worth paying attention to.
How to Compare Siding Contractor Estimates and Bids
Professional siding companies generally present a clean total, not a line-item spreadsheet. That is not hiding anything. What matters is whether the contractor can clearly answer the right questions and whether those answers are in the contract.
Ask before signing:
What is included in tear-off? Full removal of sheathing should be standard. Confirm it explicitly — some bids are priced for installation over existing siding.
What housewrap product is being used, and is it fully replaced? Confirm it is vapor-permeable and fully integrated at all penetrations.
How are windows, doors, and penetrations flashed? Z-flashing and penetration flashing should be standard. If the contractor can't describe the process specifically, note it.
Are roof tie-in areas being addressed? Where siding meets rooflines, specific flashing corrections are required. Ask how they are handled.
Are installation crews covered by workers' compensation? Request certificates of insurance for both the company and the crew.
What happens if the dumpster fills? Some contracts pass additional disposal costs to the homeowner. Confirm disposal is fully included.
What is the labor warranty? Get it in writing. Understand what it covers and for how long.
On a standard 2,000 sq ft Front Range home, bids from legitimate professional contractors typically vary by $3,000–$6,000. A gap significantly larger than this usually means the bids are not covering the same scope.
Something we do that most contractors don't: Before starting any project, we conduct a pre-construction meeting at your home — re-measuring, confirming scope in person, and performing a core test by drilling small holes to analyze sheathing type and condition before any siding is removed. If the core test reveals a problem, we address it in a change order before work begins. You see the full picture before you're committed.
We once discovered during a core test that an entire home had fiberboard sheathing, which is not suitable for a Hardie installation. We disclosed it before starting, agreed to delay the project, and completed the work when the homeowner was ready — saving him thousands by waiting for sheathing costs to normalize. Ask any contractor you're evaluating how they handle sheathing discoveries. The answer tells you a great deal about how they operate.
If you want an exact price for your home, we’ll measure it and give you a real number. No pressure.
WestPro Home Exteriors | 164 Primrose Ct | Longmont CO | 303-834-9236 | info@westproroofing.com
About This Article: Pricing data derived from real siding replacement projects completed by WestPro Home Exteriors in Longmont, Louisville, Fort Collins, and Denver, CO, in 2025 and early 2026. Current 2026 estimate templates and material pricing from ABC Supply Co. and QXO (formerly Beacon Supply). Some supplementary data from XactAnalysis (Xactimate) pricing for Denver and Boulder County.
About the Author: Written by Patrick Knackendoffel, Founder and President of WestPro Home Exteriors in Longmont, CO. Siding and roofing professional since 2011.
About WestPro Home Exteriors: Licensed and insured roofing, siding, and window replacement contractor in Longmont, CO. James Hardie Elite Preferred Contractor. GAF Master Elite Roofing Contractor. Serving Longmont, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, and the surrounding Front Range.