The neighbors watch every siding job go up. Make sure their call comes to you.

Siding work comes in two shapes. The planned replacement starts slowly: faded or cracked vinyl, rotted wood clapboard, paint the owner is tired of redoing every few summers, or a house about to go on the market. That homeowner collects samples, weighs vinyl against fiber cement, checks with the HOA and gets more than one estimate. The urgent call starts fast: wind peels panels off the back wall, hail cracks vinyl or dents aluminum, a limb punches through, or a grill parked too close melts a section. Storm repairs often run through a homeowner's insurance claim, which adds an adjuster visit, a scope of loss and a lot of waiting. The rules on how far a contractor can get involved in a claim differ from state to state; look up yours before the first adjuster meeting.

Many of the best siding leads come from people already standing at the house. Roofers spot torn panels from the ladder. Gutter and window installers pull trim and find soft sheathing. Painters find wood siding too far gone to paint again. Home inspectors write up damaged siding during a sale, and the agents need it fixed before closing. The marketplace path runs the other way. A homeowner fills out one form and several companies get it: the Networx help center states that one of its pay-per-lead leads is delivered to as many as four contractors. On a siding job you then spend an evening measuring, carrying samples and writing a quote that other companies are writing too. After a big storm, out-of-town crews knock on the same doors. A siding company that owns its search results, its phone line, its past customer list and its partner trades gets those calls without bidding for them.

The season depends on your climate. In northern states, many crews install mostly from spring through fall and do much of their selling in winter, while owners plan spring projects. Cold does not have to stop vinyl work, but it changes it: the horizontal siding installation manual from the Polymeric Exterior Products Association calls for wider expansion gaps at corner posts and channels on cold-weather installs. Painting fiber cement and caulking trim in the cold depend on the temperature limits printed on your paint and sealant labels. Along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, wind damage repair calls follow the hurricane season, which NOAA's National Hurricane Center dates from June 1 through November 30. Where hail is common, one storm can mark up the siding on every house in a subdivision. In warm climates crews install most of the year and plan around heat and afternoon storms.

Old siding carries rules with it. If a house predates 1978 and you are paid to disturb its paint, the federal lead RRP rule from EPA says your firm must be certified and your workers trained in lead-safe work practices, sole proprietors included. In a list of states EPA has authorized, the state runs that program instead. The rule leaves out minor repair and maintenance, which outside the house means disturbing no more than 20 square feet of painted surface. Work that involves demolition of painted surface areas does not count as minor, so a tear-off of painted wood siding cannot use that exception. Older siding shingles can hide another problem: roofing and siding shingles appear on the EPA's list of where asbestos may turn up, and the agency says exposure may occur when such material is disturbed or damaged. Cutting fiber cement makes silica dust, and OSHA's silica standard for construction lists specific controls for handheld saws on fiber-cement board. Employees on a scaffold more than 10 feet up need fall protection under OSHA's scaffold rule. Contractor licensing, home improvement registration and re-siding permits vary by state and town, so start with our state-by-state startup guides and your local building department. We are not lawyers, and this paragraph is a summary, so check the official sources before you rely on it.