Our labor is accomplished with subcontractor crews who have relationships with us similar to employees. Our loyal crews have worked for us for years and years and we strive very hard to be able to keep them supplied with jobs year round. We find these crews to care more about their craft, to be more professional, and overall to provide better work and with a lot less problems to us and to the homeowners we work for. They take more pride in their work and know they must perform or we will let the crew go.
This is a very common question, and the answer is, there isn't a good answer. We like to give you the "real" price, which would include any needed repairs that we are aware of through an inspection of your home. A "ballpark" price really doesn't mean much because the contractor will either make it high enough to be sure all the bases are covered (higher than it probably would end up costing), or throw out a low number to get you interested, knowing that if you did end up signing a contract, then change orders would ensue with the additional charges that would come up at installation time.
That's a bit of a loaded question that needs qualification. The biggest considerations are to ask yourself, do I mind doing or paying for maintenance, or am I totally against having to do more work than necessary? Those are generally the 2 categories homeowners fall into. Those who don't mind maintenance may want cedar siding or fibercement siding, both of which will require painting. For those who want nothing more to do with painting, then a high quality vinyl or insulated acrylic siding would be a good bet. Read more about all sidings under our siding tab.