Siding cost in Canada: what the materials cost per square foot at Quebec retailers

Ranked by entry price, cheapest first: vinyl from $1.00/sq ft, engineered wood (CanExel) from $2.15/sq ft, fibre cement from $2.95/sq ft, pine from $2.99/sq ft, aluminum from $3.44/sq ft, steel from $7.00/sq ft. Those are material prices only, per square foot of wall covered, at the Quebec retailers we track.

The entry price is not the whole story: each material has basic and premium lines (dark colours, textures, vertical profiles). The median price of each store, in the tables, shows where most of what it carries sits.

A house is priced by its wall area, not its floor area. A 28 x 40 ft bungalow has about 1,100 sq ft of wall to cover once doors and windows are taken out; a two-storey house often has 1,800 to 2,500.

The table gives the cost of the siding materials at three wall areas, at the median price in our catalogue, with 10 percent waste for cuts.

These are material prices, store by store: that is what we track, and what this page compares.

For each material, we compare the cheapest model at each store. The gap between the cheapest store and the most expensive one, on a house with 1,800 sq ft of wall:

These are not always the same models from one store to the next: it is each store’s entry price. Each material table below also gives the median and the top price.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, vinyl siding sells from $1.00 to $4.43/sq ft at 6 Quebec retailers (226 models), with a median of $1.80/sq ft. The cheapest: Gagnon, L’Entrepôt du Bricoleur ($1.00/sq ft). The table gives each store's lowest, median and highest price.

Vinyl is the cheapest siding to buy. It never needs paint, because the colour runs through it, and a wash once a year is all the upkeep it needs. Its limits: it fades in the sun over the years, and it gets more brittle in deep cold, when a hit can crack it.

It is sold by the box. Compare the coverage printed on each box, in square feet, rather than the number of panels.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, engineered wood (CanExel) siding sells from $2.15 to $10.00/sq ft at 4 Quebec retailers (107 models), with a median of $3.14/sq ft. The cheapest: Patrick Morin ($2.15/sq ft). The table gives each store's lowest, median and highest price.

CanExel is the best-known engineered wood siding in Quebec: wood fibres bonded with resin, factory primed and painted. It looks like a wood plank, can be repainted, and comes in horizontal lap and vertical boards.

Its joints and cut ends must be sealed or water gets in, so add the manufacturer sealant and touch-up paint to your list.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, fibre cement siding sells from $2.95 to $6.88/sq ft at 5 Quebec retailers (29 models), with a median of $3.38/sq ft. The cheapest: Patrick Morin ($2.95/sq ft). The table gives each store's lowest, median and highest price.

Fibre cement is a mix of cement and cellulose fibres. It does not burn or rot and it holds dark colours well. James Hardie is the best-known brand. It is heavy, and cutting it releases silica dust: cut outdoors, with a saw fitted with dust extraction, and wear a mask.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, one retailer carries steel siding: Aluminium B. Bouchard, from $7.00 to $9.24/sq ft (44 models), with a median of $7.15/sq ft.

Prefinished steel siding often imitates wood planks or lap siding. It stands up to knocks better than aluminum, and its factory finish needs little upkeep.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, one retailer carries aluminum siding: Aluminium B. Bouchard, from $3.44 to $6.90/sq ft (96 models), with a median of $3.64/sq ft.

Aluminum is light and does not rust, but it dents easily, from hail as much as from a ball. Today it is used mostly for fascia, soffits and trim.

In our catalogue as of October 23, 2026, one retailer carries pine siding: JL Ouellette Centre de Pin, at $2.99/sq ft (8 models).

Wood is the warmest siding, and the one that asks for the most upkeep: stain or paint to redo regularly. Cedar resists rot better than pine.

There is no single best one: each material wins on one point. The choice comes down to the price of the materials, the upkeep, and the look you want.

Not much, for the material. For the same material, horizontal lap and board and batten sell in the same range per square foot. The vertical profile mostly adds materials to the list: horizontal strapping and, except in vinyl, battens bought separately.

Siding alone does not make a wall. Whatever the material, your list includes a starter strip at the bottom, J-channel around doors and windows, inside and outside corners, compatible nails or screws, and a house wrap behind it all. Those pieces sell by the length or by the unit, not by the square foot: add them up separately.

Measure the length and height of each wall, multiply, add them up, then take out doors and windows. For a gable, take the width times the height at the peak, divided by two. Then add about 10 percent for cuts and waste, a little more if the house has many corners or openings.

Example: the 28 x 40 ft bungalow has about 1,100 sq ft of wall, so about 1,210 sq ft to buy with waste. Round up to the box, and keep one aside: the same colour will be hard to find in ten years if a panel is damaged.

The shelf prices on this page are what Quebec retailers charge. If you build somewhere else, the best official yardstick we have is Statistics Canada's building construction price index, which follows what builders pay for residential building as a whole in each province.

Quebec, where our shelf prices come from, reads 113.3, up 5.0% on a year earlier. Alberta is highest at 117.8 and Ontario lowest at 106.6 in the second quarter of 2026. These are cost indexes set to 100 in a base period: they say how fast residential building costs have moved in each province, not what a single item sells for at your local store. We will publish real shelf prices for your province as it goes live.