How Much Does Siding Cost for a 2,000 Sq Ft House? A Twin Cities Contractor's Real Numbers

I get asked this almost every week. Someone calls or fills out a form and the first thing out of their mouth is, "I've got a 2,000 square foot house — ballpark, what's siding going to run me?"

I've been pricing and installing siding on Twin Cities homes for two decades — Edina, Plymouth, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Bloomington, Chanhassen, every corner of the western suburbs. I'll give you the real installed numbers below, by material, with what's actually in a Modex scope. No national averages, no "starting at" pricing that doesn't include trim or labor. These are the ranges I'm quoting on actual Twin Cities homes right now.

But first — there's a piece of math most homeowners get wrong before they even start, and it changes the whole price conversation.

"2,000 Sq Ft House" Doesn't Mean 2,000 Sq Ft of Wall

When you say your house is 2,000 square feet, you're talking about heated floor space. Siding is priced by wall area, which is a totally different number.

Here's the rough rule I use when I'm scoping a job over the phone:

• One-story rambler, 2,000 sq ft heated: usually around 1,600–2,000 sq ft of wall area (16–20 "squares" of siding, where 1 square = 100 sq ft of wall).
• Two-story 2,000 sq ft home: usually 2,000–2,400 sq ft of wall (20–24 squares). Smaller roof footprint, but more vertical wall.
• Split-level or 1.5 story 2,000 sq ft: somewhere in between, typically 1,800–2,200 sq ft of wall.

Two-story homes almost always cost more to side than a rambler of the same heated square footage — more wall, more ladder work, more scaffolding, more cuts around windows on the upper floor. I'll call this out throughout the post because it's the single most common reason two homeowners with "2,000 sq ft houses" get wildly different quotes.

For everything below I'm assuming a fairly typical Twin Cities 2,000 sq ft home — about 20 squares of wall area. If your home is steeper, has more dormers, or a walkout side that's all gable, the same material can run 15–25% higher. I'll explain why.

The Quick Answer by Material

Here's where the dollar ranges land for the four siding lines I install on Twin Cities homes. These are installed, all-in numbers — not material only.

Yes — vinyl is the cheapest, and yes, Modex installs it. I'll get into when each one makes sense in a minute.

A few things to know before you anchor on a number:

• These are Twin Cities premium installer ranges. National averages run lower, but national averages aren't paying for short-season labor, full ice-and-water around penetrations, OSB rot repair behind 30-year-old siding, or any of the climate-driven detail work that keeps a Minnesota siding job from leaking at 20 below.
• The low end of each range is a clean, simple, one-story home with minimal cut work. The high end is a two-story with multiple gables, dormers, a walkout, or significant carpentry repair under the old siding.
• These numbers include house wrap, flashing, J-channel, soffit and fascia if it's part of the scope, and tear-off and disposal of the old siding. Lump-sum-per-scope. If your quote is broken down into ten line items and looks "cheap," there's a good chance something's missing from it.

Vinyl: $15,000 – $20,000 on a 2,000 Sq Ft Home

Vinyl is the cheapest siding on the market, and it earned that spot honestly — it's lightweight, it goes up fast, the material itself is inexpensive, and there's a huge pool of crews who install it. On a typical 2,000 sq ft Twin Cities home with 20 squares of wall, you're looking at $15,000 to $20,000 installed for a midgrade vinyl with all the accessories done correctly.

I install vinyl when a homeowner asks for it. Common cases:

• Rental properties where the math has to work and a 15-year service life is fine.
• Tight budgets where the alternative is leaving rotted sheathing exposed for another winter.
• Specific styling requests — there are some vinyl profiles, especially the thicker insulated lines, that look better than people expect.
• Homeowners who explicitly prefer vinyl after I've walked them through the tradeoffs.

What I tell every homeowner before we sign on vinyl in Minnesota: it's brittle in the cold. I've personally pulled vinyl off homes in Bloomington and St. Louis Park that got hit by hail and shattered in chunks because the panels were 15 below when the storm came through. The mid-grade and premium lines (thicker walls, foam-backed, better impact ratings) hold up significantly better than the builder-grade stuff. If you go vinyl, spend the $1–$2 per sq ft to step up a grade — it's the difference between a 12-year roof and a 25-year roof, just on the siding. (Here's my honest answer on how long vinyl siding actually lasts in the Twin Cities — closer to 15-20 years than the brochure's 20-40.)

LP SmartSide: $18,000 – $28,000 on a 2,000 Sq Ft Home

LP SmartSide is engineered wood — strand board treated with zinc borate and resin, factory-primed. It looks like real cedar lap siding from the curb but performs nothing like real cedar. On a 2,000 sq ft Twin Cities home, you're typically at $18,000 to $28,000 installed.

This is the line I recommend most often when a homeowner wants the lap-siding look at a reasonable price. It cuts cleaner than fiber cement, it's lighter (so labor goes faster), it accepts paint beautifully, and it holds up well in our freeze-thaw cycles. We can swing from 50 degrees on a Tuesday to -10 on a Thursday in March, and LP handles it better than vinyl and roughly on par with Hardie at a meaningfully lower install cost.

I've written a longer comparison of LP SmartSide vs. James Hardie if you want the full breakdown — the short version is: same look from the street, very similar performance, LP usually saves you a few thousand dollars on a typical Twin Cities home.

Where the LP price moves up:

• Two-story homes add ladder time and edge cuts. Add 10–15%.
• Pre-finished color (ExpertFinish) vs. paint-on-site: bumps the material cost but you skip the painting bill.
• Heavy trim packages — wide corner boards, frieze, beefy window trim — can add $2,000–$4,000 to a 2,000 sq ft home but transform the look.
• Carpentry repair under the old siding (rotted sheathing, bad framing around windows) is the wildcard. More on that below.

James Hardie: $22,000 – $32,000+ on a 2,000 Sq Ft Home

James Hardie fiber cement is the premium fiber-cement option on the market. It's a Portland cement, sand, and cellulose-fiber composite — heavy, dense, weatherproof, and the longest-lasting common siding I install. On a typical 2,000 sq ft Twin Cities home you're at $22,000 to $32,000 installed, with complex projects (steep two-stories with multiple gables, lots of dormers, walkout walls) running up to $40,000+.

The price premium over LP comes from a few real things:

• The material itself costs more per square.
• It's heavier, so labor takes longer. We're carrying more pounds up ladders.
• It cuts with special blades and creates silica dust — there's a real OSHA exposure plan and PPE cost baked in.
• The detail work — overlap, flashing, gap spacing — has to be more precise. Hardie does not forgive a sloppy install.

What I tell homeowners considering Hardie: if you're planning to stay in the home for 20+ years, the Hardie premium pays for itself in a single repaint cycle compared to needing to redo a vinyl or aluminum job in year 15. If you're planning to sell in the next 5 years, the curb appeal premium is real but the dollar-for-dollar value vs. LP SmartSide is closer to a wash.

EDCO Steel: $24,000 – $36,000+ on a 2,000 Sq Ft Home

EDCO steel is the most expensive of the four common lines, running $24,000 to $36,000+ installed on a 2,000 sq ft Twin Cities home. It's also the only siding I install with a real lifetime answer — properly installed steel from EDCO doesn't rot, it doesn't crack, and it shrugs off hail that would crater anything else.

EDCO is a Minnesota-based manufacturer, which means short lead times, local technical support, and a product specifically engineered for this climate. I install their steel siding lines, including the new generation that mimics the look of LP lap siding or cedar shake at a distance.

It's overkill for a lot of homes. It's the right answer for:

• Hail-prone properties — if you've been re-roofed twice in a decade, steel siding is what stops the insurance treadmill.
• Long-term holds — homes you don't plan to leave. Once it's on, you're done.
• Lake homes and exposed sites — Lake Minnetonka shoreline, properties on the prairie edge where wind and weather hit harder.
• Owners who hate maintenance — no painting, no caulking, no panel-by-panel replacement after every hailstorm.

The install is slower than LP or vinyl. There's more measuring, more pre-fab cut work, and the flashing detail is non-negotiable. That's part of why it costs more. It's also why it lasts.

What Drives the Spread Within Each Range

Why is one homeowner's LP SmartSide quote $18,000 and another's is $28,000 on the same "2,000 sq ft" home? Six things, in roughly the order they move the price:

1. Stories and footprint shape. One-story rectangle = cheap to side. Two-story with three gables, two dormers, and a walkout = a lot more wall and a lot more labor. Same material, same square footage of "house," totally different square footage of wall.

2. Trim and accessory package. Standard 1x4 corner boards and basic window trim is one number. Wide 1x6 or 1x8 corners with frieze board, beefy window casings, and decorative gable trim is another. The trim alone can move a Hardie job $4,000–$8,000.

3. Carpentry repair under the old siding. This is the wildcard nobody can quote until we open it up. On a 30-year-old home in the western suburbs, it's common to find some sheathing rot around windows, behind downspouts, or at the bottom of walls where snow piles up. I always include a written allowance for repair in the contract and we settle up against actuals — it's the honest way to do it.

4. Soffit and fascia. If your aluminum soffit and fascia is original and beat-up, doing it at the same time as siding is the right move. Adds $3,000–$6,000 on a typical 2,000 sq ft home, but you're never going to set up scaffolding for the same job twice.

5. House wrap and flashing detail. Cheap quotes skimp here. Full-coverage house wrap (Tyvek CommercialWrap or equivalent), peel-and-stick flashing at every window, kickout flashing at every roof-to-wall intersection — that's the real spec. Bad flashing is why old siding jobs leak.

6. Lead paint abatement. If your home was built before 1978 and has original paint, the EPA RRP rule requires lead-safe practices on tear-off. It's not optional and it's not free. I'll always tell you up front if it applies.

The full Twin Cities siding cost breakdown lives on our siding cost page if you want the per-square-foot ranges on more material types.

What's Actually in a Modex Scope

When I write a siding quote, here's what's included in the lump-sum price — so you can compare apples to apples against other bids:

• Full tear-off and disposal of existing siding
• House wrap (full coverage, not strips at windows)
• Peel-and-stick flashing at every window and door
• Kickout flashing at every roof-to-wall intersection
• New corner boards, J-channel, and trim per the chosen material spec
• Installation of the siding itself per manufacturer spec (we're certified on LP SmartSide and James Hardie — those install warranties only hold if it's done right)
• Soffit and fascia if it's in your scope
• Caulking, paint touch-up, site cleanup, dumpster, permits

What's not in a typical siding-only scope and may show up as a change order:

• Window replacement (separate scope — see our window replacement service page)
• Major framing repair beyond the sheathing allowance
• Insulation upgrades (we can add rigid foam at the same time if you want to bump your R-value)

Common Gotchas That Blow Up a Siding Quote

A few traps I see homeowners walk into when they're comparing bids:

• The "material only" quote. Some contractors will give you a number that's just the siding cost, no install. It's usually 30–40% of the real number. Always confirm whether labor is included.
• The "starting at" price. That's the price for a single-story rambler with no trim upgrades and no repair allowance. Your actual quote will be higher.
• Skipped flashing detail. Cheaper crews skip kickout flashing and peel-and-stick at windows. Your siding will look great for 8 years, then leak silently behind it for 4 more before you notice.
• No carpentry allowance. If a contractor's quote doesn't mention what happens when we find rot, ask. Either it's included as an allowance, or you're getting a change order on day three.
• Painting separated out. On LP SmartSide, you can choose pre-finished or paint-on-site. Pre-finished costs more in material but saves you the painter bill. Get clarity on what's in the number.

When Each Material Actually Makes Sense

I'm not going to tell you there's one right answer. There isn't. Here's how I think about it on the phone with a homeowner:

• Vinyl — rentals, tight budgets, or if you specifically want vinyl after seeing the tradeoffs. Step up at least one grade above builder-basic.
• LP SmartSide — the default recommendation for most Twin Cities homes. Best balance of cost, looks, and performance.
• James Hardie — long-term holds, design-conscious projects, homes where the curb appeal premium will be there for 30 years.
• EDCO steel — hail-prone, exposed, lake, or "I never want to do this again" projects.

If you want the curb appeal of premium siding without the lifetime price tag, LP SmartSide is what I'd put on my own house — and have.

Getting an Accurate Quote on Your Home

The honest answer to "what does siding cost on a 2,000 sq ft house" is: I can give you a range from the curb, but I can't give you a real number until I'm walking your perimeter with a tape measure, looking at the condition of your existing trim, checking the soffit and fascia, and figuring out what's going on at the windows.

That measurement visit is free, and I do it myself on most projects. You'll leave with a written quote — lump-sum per scope, with the repair allowance called out separately so you know exactly where the variables are.

Call 952-206-6339 or request a free quote online. I'll come out, measure everything, and tell you what your specific home actually costs to side — and which of the four lines I'd put on it if it were mine.

FAQ

How much does it cost to side a 2,000 square foot house in Minnesota?

For a typical Twin Cities 2,000 sq ft home (about 20 squares of wall area), expect $15,000–$20,000 for vinyl, $18,000–$28,000 for LP SmartSide, $22,000–$32,000+ for James Hardie, and $24,000–$36,000+ for EDCO steel — installed, including tear-off, wrap, and trim. Two-story homes and complex rooflines run higher.

Is vinyl siding really the cheapest option?

Yes. Vinyl is the cheapest mainstream siding on the market and will be the lowest installed cost on any 2,000 sq ft home — typically $15,000–$20,000 in the Twin Cities. Modex installs vinyl on request, but for most Minnesota homes I steer homeowners toward LP SmartSide or steel because of cold-climate brittleness and hail performance.

Does a 2,000 sq ft house have 2,000 sq ft of siding?

No — and this is the single most common pricing mistake. "2,000 sq ft" refers to heated interior floor space. Wall area (which is what siding is priced on) is usually 1,600–2,400 sq ft depending on whether the home is one story, two story, or split-level. A two-story 2,000 sq ft home has substantially more wall area than a rambler of the same size.

Why are James Hardie quotes so much higher than LP SmartSide quotes?

Three reasons: the Hardie material itself costs more per square; it's heavier so labor takes longer; and it requires more precise detail work (silica dust controls, special blades, tighter overlap and flashing specs). On the same Twin Cities home you'll typically see Hardie quotes run $4,000–$6,000 higher than LP — sometimes more on complex two-stories.

Should I do soffit and fascia at the same time as siding?

Almost always yes. The scaffolding's already up, the crew's already on site, and you'll save 20–30% versus doing it as a standalone job two years later. On a 2,000 sq ft Twin Cities home, soffit and fascia bundled with a siding project usually adds $3,000–$6,000.

What's a fair price per square foot for siding installed in the Twin Cities?

Real installed pricing on Twin Cities homes in 2026: $7.50–$10/sq ft for vinyl, $8–$14/sq ft for LP SmartSide, $8–$15/sq ft for James Hardie, $11–$18/sq ft for EDCO steel. Below those ranges, something is usually missing from the scope — most often house wrap, flashing detail, or repair allowance. Always ask what's included.

Get a Real Quote on Your Specific Home

Modern Exterior Systems is a women-owned, family-operated roofing and exterior contractor based in Eden Prairie, MN, serving the Twin Cities metro since 2007. Owner Joe Dvorak brings two decades of hands-on construction experience, James Hardie and LP SmartSide installer certifications, and a LIFETIME workmanship warranty to every siding project. BBB Accredited with an A+ rating.

Ready for a real number on your home? Call 952-206-6339 or request your free estimate online. I'll measure your home, write a line-by-scope quote, and tell you exactly what your siding project costs — no high-pressure sales, no "starting at" math.

Related reading:

• What's the Cheapest Exterior Siding? An Honest Breakdown
• LP SmartSide vs. James Hardie: A Contractor's Honest Comparison
• How Long Does Vinyl Siding Last?
• Twin Cities Siding Cost Breakdown
• Siding Installation in Minneapolis & the Twin Cities
• LP SmartSide Siding Minneapolis
• James Hardie Siding Minneapolis
• EDCO Steel Siding