Richmond, VA
SIDING ESTIMATING.

## Siding Estimating in Richmond Moves Fast — Your Bid Process Should Too Richmond's housing stock is a mixed bag in the best way. You're quoting fiber cement on a 1940s Cape Cod in Northside one afternoon and vinyl over OSB on a new build in Short Pump the next morning. Each job carries different substrate conditions, different exposure grades, and different permit requirements depending on whether you're working inside the city or in Henrico or Chesterfield County. Estimate.Pro is built around that reality. You walk the job, measure with the AR tool, and have a priced scope of work ready to send in 8 minutes — the median time from walkthrough to sendable bid across all 25 supported trades. --- ## What Makes Siding Estimates Different in Richmond **Moisture and substrate.** Richmond sits in IECC Climate Zone 4A — mixed-humid. That means you need to account for a vapor-permeable WRB in your scope when you're specifying fiber cement or engineered wood. If you skip that line item, you either eat the cost or fight with a homeowner later. Estimate.Pro's siding scope templates prompt you for WRB type, drainage plane details, and flashing at penetrations so nothing gets buried. **Historic districts.** Parts of Church Hill, The Fan, and Oregon Hill fall under Richmond's historic overlay zones. The Department of Planning and Development Review can require specific siding profiles, colors, and materials that match the original construction. If you're working in those areas, your estimate needs to reflect premium material costs and the possibility of additional review time. Build that buffer in from the start. **Wind load and nailing schedules.** Virginia follows the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC), which adopts the International Building Code. Richmond's design wind speed is 115 mph (ASCE 7-22, Risk Category II). Your nailing schedule for panel siding and lap siding has to match those requirements. When you generate a scope in Estimate.Pro, the notes field carries the relevant nailing frequency so your crew chief has it on the job card. **Labor costs are real here.** Skilled siding installers in the Richmond metro run $28–$38 per hour for journeyman-level work. You can store your actual crew rates in the saved material cost workspace and Estimate.Pro prices against your numbers — not a national average that has no relationship to what you pay. --- ## How the AR Measurement Works on a Siding Job On supported devices, the ONNX-assisted live AR measurement tool lets you capture wall dimensions, window and door cutouts, and corner counts during your walkthrough. The app subtracts openings and returns a net square footage ready to price. If you're using photos or a device without full AR support, measurements are flagged as estimates so you know to verify before finalizing the bid. Nothing gets sent to a client with false precision. --- ## Scope Items Estimate.Pro Handles for Siding Contractors - Net wall square footage after deductions - Linear feet of trim, J-channel, and corner posts - WRB and housewrap material - Fasteners by nailing schedule - Waste factor by siding profile - Permit allowance line item - Haul-off and disposal - Caulking and sealant at penetrations Each of these is a line item you can adjust. The scope is a starting point, not a locked template. --- ## Sending the Bid and Getting Paid On the Free tier, there's no credit card required and no platform fee on estimates. When you're ready to collect deposits and progress payments, the Elite plan ($79/seat/month) includes Stripe Connect with 0% platform fee. Invoice exports are also available at Elite, which matters when you're running multi-week jobs across several properties. The Pro plan is $39/seat/month if you don't need the payment integration yet. Crew-rate flat pricing is available at $399/month for larger operations. --- ## Built for How Richmond Siding Contractors Actually Work You're not running a national franchise. You're pricing jobs in a city where a 1920s Craftsman and a 2024 townhouse can be on the same block, where a city permit and a county permit can mean two different inspection timelines, and where your material costs have shifted enough in the last two years that last year's numbers will lose you money. Estimate.Pro keeps your cost data current because you control it. Your saved material costs, your labor rates, your waste factors. The app builds the scope. You review and send. Start free — no credit card, no time limit on the free tier.