Siding

I have a note on my phone titled “PAINT (OUTSIDE)” and it’s basically just me discovering that painting is mostly not painting.

It’s:

• cleaning
• scraping
• caulking
• priming
• fixing whatever the last paint job tried to hide
• and then (finally) rolling/brushing/spraying color onto something that’s ready for it

Which is why exterior painting quotes can feel like they’re describing different houses.

This is my decoder ring:

• cost anchors by $ per square foot, story count, and prep level
• the few drivers that make bids swing hard
• Example quote snapshots (EXAMPLES ONLY) so you can see what “scope” looks like in the real world

First: what does “$X per sq ft” even mean for exterior painting?

Different contractors (and cost guides) use “square foot” differently:

I went into this thinking siding was basically:

“Pick a color. Replace the panels. Done.”

And then I watched the first contractor walk around the house like they were reading braille.

• taps a corner: “soft.”
• points under a window: “no flashing.”
• looks up at the second story and sighs: “ladder setup.”

That was the moment I wrote in my Notes app:

“Siding is not cosmetic. Siding is weather management in costume.”