Siding profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Siding falls under Specialty trade contractors. For tax year 2023, 2,521,516 returns reported $257.8 billion in receipts, $80.4 billion in cost of sales and $40.5 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 68.8% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 15.7% |
| Average receipts per return | $102,220 |
| Average net income per return | $16,054 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in siding
Siding is material and labor in close to equal parts, with staging, tear-off and disposal on top. Rotted sheathing found under old siding is the common surprise.
Where siding margin leaks, and how to win it back
- Sheathing repairs found during tear-off
- Trim and wraps priced too low
- Dump fees
- Staging time on tall walls
- Color matching on repairs
Ways siding contractors raise margin: price sheathing repair per sheet on the estimate; pass dump fees through; sell trim wraps and gutters with the job; book repairs in slow weeks.
Check your siding prices against the costs
The typical national prices from our sourced calculators are a check on whether your prices leave room for margin:
| Service | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl siding | $7.13 | $3.00 to $11.50 a sq ft |
| Fiber cement siding | $9.50 | $5.00 to $14.00 a sq ft |
| Engineered wood siding | $4.75 | $1.50 to $8.00 a sq ft |
| Stone veneer | $8.00 | $5.00 to $11.00 a sq ft |
| Tear off old siding | $1,750 | $1,000 to $2,500 a job |
| House wrap | $0.75 | $0.50 to $1.00 a sq ft |
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual siding menu: vinyl siding; fiber cement siding; engineered wood siding; stone veneer; tear off old siding; house wrap; painting new siding; trim wraps and soffit; storm damage panel replacement; loose or cracked siding repair; caulk and seal around openings.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In siding it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are siding installation contractors pay an average of $100 a month for; commercial auto at $299 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent siding job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for siding installation contractors, checked October 9, 2026
- Fixr, siding replacement cost, checked October 8, 2026
- HomeAdvisor, siding replacement cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Modernize, siding cost calculator, checked October 8, 2026
- Today's Homeowner, siding replacement cost, checked October 8, 2026
- This Old House, siding replacement cost, checked October 8, 2026
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files), checked October 8, 2026
- US Census Bureau, 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area to county relationship file, checked October 8, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.