Most homeowners think about siding the way they think about a furnace: you replace it when it fails. That’s fine if you plan to live in the house forever. But if you’re going to sell within the next five years — even if you don’t know yet whether you’ll sell — new siding has become one of the highest-ROI exterior projects you can do. And the 2025 Zonda Cost vs. Value report tells the story clearly.
What the 2025 numbers actually say
The Cost vs. Value report tracks how much of a remodeling project’s cost shows up in resale value when you sell. For 2025, the top of the list is dominated by exterior projects:
- Garage door replacement: 268% cost recouped
- Steel entry door replacement: 216%
- Manufactured stone veneer: 206%
- Vinyl siding replacement: 80-97% (national average; varies by market)
- Fiber cement siding replacement: ~88% (with the most recent JLC numbers showing closer to 114% in strong markets)
To put that in context, kitchen remodels recoup roughly 50-70% of cost. Bathroom additions recoup 50-60%. Even a mid-range kitchen update doesn’t come close to what new siding delivers, dollar for dollar.
Why curb appeal moves houses faster
The harder-to-measure piece is days-on-market. Real estate research consistently shows that homes with strong curb appeal sell faster. The National Association of Realtors notes that about 70% of agents recommend siding replacement or refresh before listing — not because siding sells the house by itself, but because of two specific dynamics:
1. The drive-by test
Most buyers find their home online, then drive by before scheduling a showing. Roughly 30-40% of homes get cut from a buyer’s list on the drive-by, before a Realtor ever opens the door. Faded vinyl, mismatched siding panels, or cedar shake that needs paint kills the showing before it happens.
2. The price-per-issue calculation
Buyers and their agents do informal math during showings. Every visible issue — dated siding, old gutters, worn front door — gets translated into "I’ll need to spend X to fix that." That number then comes off the buyer’s offer, usually at 1.5x or 2x the actual cost. A $15,000 siding job becomes a $25,000-$30,000 reduction in offer price.
This is why a $12,000 siding refresh before listing often nets you $20,000+ more on the sale. The math isn’t intuitive but it’s consistent.
Material choices for resale
Not all siding is equal at resale. Here’s what we recommend, depending on your goals:
If you’re selling within 12 months
Vinyl is hard to beat. Lowest cost, highest cost-recouped percentage in mid-tier markets, and modern vinyl looks dramatically better than the stuff from the 90s. We install Mastic and Royal Building Products lines that hold color and have a real wood-grain texture. ROI national average: around 80-97%.
If you’re selling in 2-5 years (or maybe never)
Fiber cement (James Hardie or LP SmartSide) is the right answer for almost every Knoxville home in this window. It costs more up front, but it lasts 30-50 years, holds value better, and is increasingly what buyers in Farragut, Sequoyah Hills, and West Knoxville actively look for. The 2025 JLC numbers put fiber cement at ~114% cost recouped in strong markets.
For maximum curb appeal: mix materials
The fastest visual upgrade we can offer a Knoxville home is mixed-material siding — lap siding as the main field, board-and-batten on the gables, shake accents on the dormers, and a stone or stone-veneer wainscot. The 2025 Cost vs. Value report shows manufactured stone veneer at 206% cost recouped. That’s the highest siding-category number on the list.
The energy efficiency bonus
Modern siding installations also include a moisture barrier and often new insulation. We always replace house wrap on siding jobs. Many customers report a small but noticeable reduction in heating and cooling costs after a full siding replacement — not because siding itself is insulation, but because the wrap and any sheathing repairs we do on the way fix decades of accumulated air leaks.
So the curb-appeal investment also returns a little money each month for as long as you live in the house. That’s a bonus, not the main point.
Color choices that hold value
One word of caution: bold colors can shorten days-on-market in the wrong direction. We’ve watched homes with very personal color choices sit on the market while the comparable house down the street sold in two weeks.
If resale is on your radar at all, stick with timeless palettes:
- White, off-white, and warm whites
- Greige (gray-beige) tones
- Soft sage or sage green for craftsman and farmhouse styles
- Soft navy or charcoal as accent colors, not main field colors
Save the bold turquoise or terra cotta for the front door, where it’s easy to repaint for the next owner.
Honest timing advice
The best time to replace siding for resale is not the week before you list. Builders and contractors get booked up in spring; if you’re trying to be on the market by April, plan the project for the previous fall. We see this go wrong every year — someone calls in March wanting a 30-day turnaround, and we’re booked into June.
If you’re thinking about selling in the next 1-3 years, get a quote now even if you’re not ready to do the work. Material prices, labor, and lead times all matter, and locking in pricing on a fall project is often the smartest move.
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