In addition to Marks comments, consider costs are a very regional thing. Think about the costs for painting and the repainting when comparing vinyl and Hardie.

I don't like the look of vinyl, so it would not be my choice.

LP Smartside, in my area, costs about $76 per 4x10 sheet. Our builder was adamant about using it until we discovered that the smooth sheets could only ordered in increments of 90. We didn’t want the textured LP. We switched to Hardie which is $46/sheet. I’m not sure how vinyl is priced but that’ll help you compare price per square footage.

I don’t know where you live but the advice about paying attention to that is wise. Where I love vinyl siding is a far lesser product and appears cheap. We have hardie plank and panels.

I don't care for LP's Smartside, a piece of it looks like a future banquet for mold and mildew to me. I'd lean toward Hardie or vinyl.

We are using Boral (just mentioning an alternative).

Do you know how Boral compares in cost/functionality/appearance? Never heard of it!

My builder and architect both seem to prefer it from an ease of working with, durability and appearance. Of course, if you ask 100 architects and 100 builders, you may see a huge variety of opinion on the matter. I was planning on Hardie initially. I don't know the cost differences and suspect they vary by region.

I am not a fan of vinyl.

My comments might not be relevant to board and batten siding, since we installedstandard lap siding, so feel free to ignore.

We used a combination of Hardi board for our lap siding and Boral for trim. My contractor said Boral (compressed coal ash) was easier to work with for trim and came in more size variations. It does seem a little more resistant to breakage than Hardie, and cuts and nails just like wood.

I really like Hardie, but since it is cement board it is subject to fracturing if bent too far or cut too much in width. In some cases where about 1/2 of my board width had been cut out to fit around a window, I had to strap the 12' long Hardie siding to a 2x2 to give it support while lifting it up into place and nailing it. We were also using a 1 man lift for the upper siding of a two story structure and getting a very flexible 12' long Hardi board to line up and drop into the Gecko brackets (used for proper vertical spacing) was challenging. YMMV.

Bruce

IMO vinyl siding would always be my last choice and honestly the cost difference on a whole new build is not even IMO considered.. BTW add wider trim to the windows and forget the shutters since 1/2 the windows you show them on are the wrong place for shutters. I think that type siding in that color in vinyl will just look cheap.

Not all vinyl products should be tarred with the same brush.

PVC trim and sheet material is vinyl: polyvinyl chloride. We just finished building a beautiful home with Everlast vinyl plank siding. The product is exceptional. It is color-thru vinyl planks. I like it better than Hardie and wouldn't hesitate to put the product on my personal home. Everlast makes a board-and-batten vinyl product, too.

https://www.everlastsiding.com/press/chelsea-building-products-launches-everlast%C2%AE-board-batten-vertical-siding

Check out Hardie board siding. It's a fiber cement product that looks really great. https://www.jameshardie.com/products/hardiepanel-vertical-siding?loc=refresh

I forgot to mention the home we recently completed was designed by a local architect who was a Hardie fan, too. We proposed the Everlast product as a lower-maintenance alternative and when he saw the sample he approved the change without reservation. The total installed cost of the product ran a little bit more than Hardie Plank would have cost, but if you consider the cost of a repaint every 7 +/- years, the owner will be ahead in the long run. He's got another project on the boards and is proposing Everlast siding for it.

Everlast sounds very interesting and is for sure not tie vinyl I pictured! Is it vinyl? It says composite? Not sure differences?

Everlast does sound great!!! Any pictures???

Everlast is a composite material comprised of PVC, minerals and acrylic colorants. If you're considering fiber-cement, I recommend you get samples of the Everlast product and the fiber-cement product so you can do a side-by-side comparison.

Sounds like a great product! What is the preferred brand of trim to use with Everlast?

And curious what are the acoustic properties? We have a cheap vinyl sided house on the coast and comparable houses with hardie are quieter from road noise. The vinyl is also fairly loud with driving rain.

@David Cary,

I'm sure the technical folks at Chelsea Building Products will engage you in a lively, fascinating, and informative conversation about the acoustic properties of their siding.

I'm coming in on this conversation really late but I want to ask a ? or 2....is there any maintenance with Hardie siding? Same question for Everlast. We plan to replace our 28 year old vinyl siding but don't know which option is best. We live in central NC.

Everlast is a prefinished (color all the way through) composite siding so there would ne maintenance. Hardie is a cement product that even the prefinished product will require painting eventually and then again painting a few years later.

Thanks so much!!

Thank you for the tip about Everest siding @Charles Ross Homes! I appreciate it. We were looking at KWP siding originally but now I'm off to the lumber yard to look at Everest.

Could you let me know how you make out with Everest. We're looking at James Hardie but no decision yet.

It will be a while till we build, John and Connie, so I doubt I'll be helpful. However, several building contractors told us they no longer install Hardie because of the silica dust risk to their workers, and, depending on geography/location, mold issues. Several folks steered us toward KWP siding, but I'm not wild about the color options.

Thank you for that information! Mold would be an issue for us as we have woods on the one side of our house. So I may have to look at other options. Thanks again.

@CharlesRossHomes what about Westlake Royal's Celect Cellular Composite board and batten siding? HAve you ever used it or have you only used Everlast?

Vinyl siding is not allowed in most of the master--planned communities in which we build so our experience is limited. The home we built with Everlast looks great. I'd choose it over Hardie everytime.

The Chelsea Building Products website says Everlast composite siding is a mixture of polymeric resin and granular stone.

The Intertek Code Compliance Research Report CCRR-0201 says it's made of cellular (foamed) PVC with a chemically bonded acrylic cap (containing the color) with no mention of the granular stone which is probably some kind of stone dust.

The report requires the siding to be installed over structural wood sheathing. The 4.5" and 6.875" reveal horizontal lap siding must be fastened every 16" with 2.5" s.s. screws or 2" roofing nails into the wall studs and the 11" reveal vertical board & batten siding must be fastened with 1 5/8" s.s. screws every 7.5" into the wood sheathing (which is a lot of screws).

@Charles Ross Homes thank you for your reply....just to be clear - I am referring to the Celect Cellular Composite product line and not the vinyl. Same concept as the Everlast. We got samples of both and we like the Celect better. I can run my fingernail across the Celect and don't see any markings where I can on the Everlast. However I think my husband and I will go with our 1st choice of Metal Board and Batten concealed fastener siding with a skirt of stone veneer because it just seems too iffy with the installation. https://www.royalbuildingproducts.com/products/siding/celect?profile=11in.%20Board%20%26%20Batten&color=Frost&type=homeowner