If you’re comparing types of siding and want my short answer: fiber cement for anyone who can swing the budget, vinyl for everyone else, and wood only if you love maintenance the way some people love restoring old cars. Ten years of installing all three hasn’t changed my mind.
Fiber Cement Siding
Fiber cement siding is where I spend the most time during sales conversations, because it’s the product with the biggest gap between what people assume and what it actually involves.
The material is a mix of cement, sand, and cellulose fibers. James Hardie makes roughly 90% of the fiber cement sold in North America, to the point where “Hardie board” and “fiber cement” are practically synonyms. They run a HardieZone system that ships different formulations to different climates, and our area gets the product engineered for freeze-thaw cycling.
Cost-wise, expect $6 to $13 per square foot installed. For a typical home, that’s $10,000 to $26,000 depending on size, stories, and trim complexity.
Those numbers are rougher than I’d like because fiber cement quotes vary widely between contractors. The material is heavy (a 12-foot plank weighs about 20 pounds), and installation requires two-person teams, specialized cutting tools, and careful flashing work. Crews that primarily do vinyl will sometimes bid fiber cement jobs and then struggle with the weight and the dust. We’ve re-sided two homes in the last three years where the original Hardie install failed because a vinyl crew didn’t flash the butt joints properly. Water behind the planks within 18 months.
Done right, fiber cement lasts 30 to 50 years and looks like wood without the maintenance.
For our fiber cement vs vinyl siding comparison, I went deeper on installation differences specifically.
Why I recommend it first
Fiber cement holds paint for 15 to 20 years before needing a refresh. It won’t melt, warp, or fade the way vinyl can. It handles impact well (a baseball won’t crack it, though I’ve seen a few try), and comes in textures that genuinely look like wood grain, smooth board, or cedar shake.
Realtors in New Castle County have told me fiber cement is one of the first things buyers notice in the $350K to $500K range. It reads as “this homeowner invested in the house.” Whether that’s fair to vinyl homeowners or not, it’s the perception.
Vinyl Siding
Nothing wrong with vinyl. Vinyl siding accounts for somewhere between a third and half of all residential siding in the US. It’s popular for a reason.
The reason is price. $3 to $8 per square foot installed, or $6,000 to $16,000 for a typical home. Delaware’s lack of sales tax on materials shaves a bit more off, a bonus that applies to siding replacement and roofing projects alike.
Installation is faster and lighter, which means lower labor costs. Most vinyl jobs take two to three days. The material snaps together, cuts with a utility knife, and doesn’t require specialized equipment. That accessibility is vinyl’s strength and its risk: the barrier to entry for installers is low.
Lifespan runs 20 to 40 years on paper. Realistically, in the Mid-Atlantic, you’re looking at 25 to 35 for quality vinyl with proper installation. We cover lifespan numbers for all materials in our siding lifespan guide.
The two things I tell every vinyl customer about: color fading and heat warping. Fading is gradual and mostly cosmetic. Heat warping is less well known. Reflective surfaces (low-e windows on a neighboring house, for example) can concentrate sunlight onto vinyl and literally melt it. I had a customer in Middletown whose neighbor’s new windows created a hot spot that buckled three panels on the south wall. Not a defect. Not an installation issue. Just physics. The warranty didn’t cover it.
For budget-conscious homeowners who don’t plan to spend more than 15 years in the house, vinyl is a perfectly solid choice.
Wood Siding
I’ll keep this shorter because wood siding is a niche product at this point. Cedar looks incredible. Nobody argues that. The argument is about whether anyone wants to maintain it.
Installed costs run $7 to $14 per square foot ($12,000 to $28,000), putting it in fiber cement range or higher. But the installed cost is the beginning of the conversation, not the end.
Cedar needs staining every three to five years. That runs $1,100 to $7,900 depending on house size and accessibility. Skip it: year one looks gorgeous, year three the color has washed out, year five you’re seeing splitting and rot at the bottom courses. By year eight without maintenance, you’re replacing boards, not staining them.
(I have a soft spot for cedar, if I’m being fair. We did a cottage restoration near Bethany Beach where the homeowner had maintained the original cedar for 30 years. Looked warm and real in a way fiber cement can’t match. But that owner was out there with a brush every three summers like clockwork. Most people aren’t that person.)
Cost Over Time
This is where the comparison shifts. Vinyl wins upfront. But pull back to a 30-year window, and the numbers rearrange.
A vinyl install at $10,000 with replacement at year 28 (call it $14,000 with inflation) totals roughly $24,000. Fiber cement at $18,000 with one repaint at year 17 ($3,000 to $5,000) comes to about $21,000 to $23,000, and it still has another 15 to 20 years of life at that point.
Cedar at $20,000 plus six staining cycles runs $38,000 to $50,000 over the same period.
The siding replacement cost page breaks down the project-level numbers further.
Regional Context
We’re close enough to Philadelphia that contractor rates reflect Philly-adjacent pricing, especially for specialized fiber cement work. General labor runs $40 to $75 an hour; metro specialists push $120. When fiber cement quotes vary by $6,000 or more, labor is usually the reason.
Freeze-thaw cycles stress every material differently too. Vinyl expands and contracts (it’s designed to). Fiber cement is rigid, so installation has to account for proper gapping. Wood absorbs and releases moisture. Installation quality matters at least as much as what’s printed on the box.
FAQ
What’s the most popular type of siding?
Vinyl, by a wide margin. It’s on somewhere between a third and half of all homes in the country.
Is fiber cement siding worth the extra cost over vinyl?
For most homeowners who plan to stay 10 or more years, yes. The upfront premium is real ($4,000 to $10,000 more for a typical home), but fiber cement holds paint longer, resists damage better, and doesn’t have the heat-warping vulnerability. Over a 30-year window, total costs between the two are surprisingly close once you factor in vinyl’s shorter lifespan and potential replacement. If you’re on a tight budget or planning to sell within five to seven years, vinyl is the smarter financial play. But if you can afford it and you’re staying put, fiber cement is what I’d put on my own house. We wrote a full fiber cement vs vinyl comparison with the detailed breakdown.
Does wood siding increase home value?
It can, particularly in neighborhoods where the aesthetic fits. But any value increase gets eaten by maintenance costs within a few years if you’re not keeping up with staining.
How often does cedar siding need to be restained?
Every three to five years in our climate. Budget $1,100 to $7,900 per cycle depending on the size of the house, whether you’re doing it yourself or hiring out, and how accessible the walls are. Two-story homes with landscaping tight to the foundation cost more because of ladder work and prep time. Miss a cycle and you’re not restaining anymore, you’re sanding, priming, and replacing damaged boards first.
