How does color affect your siding cost?
One of the biggest improvements in fiber cement and vinyl siding products over the past decade has been the numerous color choices now available to homeowners. When vinyl first came into use, most manufacturers only offered five or six color shades. Now you can select from 20 or more hues in some styles. Many earlier fiber cement siding products were only primed and still required paint, but today companies such as James Hardie have developed technology that allows you to choose from prefinished colors warrantied in some cases for as long as 15 years. Do all these color options affect your siding cost?
Color choices and your siding cost
Fiber cement and vinyl siding colors do not normally affect the cost of most manufacturers' products. The prices are more often determined by style and construction. A vinyl siding that has a thinner gauge is often less expensive than styles with heavier .044 or .046 designs. Whether the siding is Coral or Pacific Blue is usually not a factor. The same is true of fiber cement: the main price difference there is between primed or prefinished styles. Once you decide to go with a factory-applied shade, the color doesn't normally change the price. However, there are times when color can affect availability or may cause your siding cost to go up:
- Region. Due to their warranties, some manufacturers don't offer certain colors in regions where the climate may adversely affect the color's longevity. James Hardie offers Traditional Red fiber cement in Arizona, but not in Virginia and some other states.
- Popularity. Some fiber cement and vinyl siding colors are more popular in one part of the country than another. If your local distributor doesn't stock colors that do not sell well, they may charge extra to ship it in for your job.
And if the color you like doesn't come in a style or grade that fits your siding budget, you might have to pick a next favorite that does.
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