| TYPES OF SIDING |  |
REVIEWS | |
MANUFACTURERS | |
COLORS | |
CALCULATORS |
Vinyl Siding Prices : Basics : Selecting Siding Companies
Selecting Siding Companies
Selecting the best siding companies in your area can be tricky business. Here is our step-by-step guide to selecting the right company or contractor for your project.
Send our site editor Bill your questions, and get personalized answers that can save you thousands of dollars on your new siding project!
Get Some Bids
One of the best ways to begin your research is to get several bids from local companies. They're free and they will provide you with a ton of information about the scope of the project, the general cost of the replacement siding and labor, as well as the suggestions for the best materials to use. Perhaps the only real question you need to answer before starting is your choice of siding materials - the most popular choices include vinyl, engineered wood and fiber cement. See our compare siding materials page to get the pros and cons on all cladding materials and options. Make sure to ask any and all questions you may have during the free project quote - you will be amazed how much information you can gleam by the third bid!
Compare The Bids
Take the bids and put them side by side to compare them. It's not unusual to have major price differences between contractor bids on the exact same projects. Do any stand out as way overpriced? If so, toss them out. Give each one a grade for price, product and your overall impression of the company and/or installer. Check out our siding reviews section for opinions on many of the most popular siding brands and products.
Go Online And Double Check
One approach with recommend is to take your project bids and get some expert opinions. Go online and google "siding forums" - one site we really like is gardenweb.com. Register on the site and post your project bids and details and ask the contractors who frequent these boards whether they like the products that the companies are suggesting and whether the overall cost seems to be in line with industry pricing. This is like getting free advice from top contractors who have no stake in your project - great free information. If they like the bids, great. If they don't, you need to get some more using the contractor's recommendations.
Reviews And Referrals
Reviews and referrals are the two best ways to make sure that the installer you are using is up to snuff when it comes to the actual installation. Check out yelp, Angie's List and Google Local Listings to see whether the company in question has consumer reviews posted on them. If they don't, ask the companies for referrals from past customers. These are never going to be as good as the reviews since they are coming directly from the contractors and companies themselves (but can be a good barometer of their overall quality). Once you check out the companies for yourself, you should have a clear winner on your hands. Good luck!