San Francisco, CA
SIDING ESTIMATING.

## Siding Estimating in San Francisco Moves at Its Own Pace San Francisco's housing stock is unlike anywhere else in California. Victorian and Edwardian facades, narrow lot zero-clearance situations, and hillside access constraints all add time to a job that flat-lot estimating software ignores. You're often bidding fiber cement over existing lap siding on a 1905 Painted Lady, not a new-build tract house in Fresno. That complexity costs you money when your estimate is built on guesswork. Estimate.Pro is built so a siding contractor can walk a job, capture measurements, and send a priced bid before leaving the driveway. ## What Makes SF Siding Bids Hard to Get Right **Material moisture requirements.** The San Francisco fog belt — Karl is real — means moisture management is a selling point, not an afterthought. Your scope of work should call out house wrap spec, trim caulk type, and paint system. Estimate.Pro's AI scope builder prompts for these line items automatically. **Title 24 compliance.** California's Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24) affect wall assembly R-values on siding jobs that involve sheathing removal or re-wrapping. When a permit is pulled, inspectors in San Francisco look at continuous insulation requirements. Your estimate should reflect those material choices, and the app's saved material cost workspace lets you store compliant assembly pricing for quick reuse. **Permit and access costs.** San Francisco permits for siding work come with fees that are among the highest in the state. DBI (Department of Building Inspection) charges a base fee plus a valuation-based increment. On a full re-side, that adds a line item that contractors in other markets don't budget. Scaffolding or lift rental on a hillside lot — think Noe Valley or Bernal Heights — is another cost that needs to be in the estimate, not in your margin. **Historic district and HOA review.** Properties in Alamo Square, Duboce Park, and other Article 10 and 11 areas may require Planning Department sign-off on siding material and color. Fiber cement products that mimic wood patterns pass most reviews; smooth-panel systems sometimes don't. Your estimate should note that permit timelines extend when Planning is in the chain. ## How Estimate.Pro Works for Siding Contractors **Walkthrough to bid in 8 minutes.** Use the AR measurement tool on supported devices to capture wall faces, window cutouts, and gable runs in the field. On older buildings where lines aren't square, camera and photo measurements are flagged as estimates so you know where to add contingency. **AI scope of work.** After the walkthrough, the app drafts a full scope: demo and haul, house wrap, furring if required, substrate repair allowance, siding material and labor, trim, caulk, and paint. You edit; it doesn't override your field knowledge. **Priced from your own cost data.** The saved material cost workspace holds your supplier pricing from Ganahl Lumber, your local Ply Gem distributor, or wherever you source James Hardie in the Bay Area. You're not estimating off national averages that don't account for Bay Area material costs running 15–25% above national benchmarks. **Send and collect.** On Pro and above, Stripe Connect is built in. Clients sign and pay the deposit from the same link. The platform fee is 0% on Pro+ plans. On the free tier it's 3%. ## Pricing That Fits Your Crew Size - **Free forever** — no credit card, no time limit. Good for solo operators testing the water. - **Pro at $39/seat/month** — full AR measurement, AI scope, Stripe Connect invoicing. - **Elite at $79/seat/month** — adds invoice exports and advanced workflows. - **Crew at $399/month flat** — covers unlimited seats, suited for a multi-crew siding operation running five or more jobs a week. ## The Bottom Line San Francisco siding work is premium work that demands premium documentation. A handwritten bid or a generic spreadsheet doesn't reflect the complexity clients are paying for, and it doesn't protect you when a DBI inspector shows up and your scope is vague. Estimate.Pro gives you a buildable, defensible estimate in the time it takes to drive to the next job. Start free. No credit card.