Metal wall cladding costs $15 to $25 per square foot installed in the Lower Mainland for standing seam and flat panels, woodgrain aluminum plank starts at about $15 with premium plank systems at $25 to $40, and corrugated, ribbed and metal board and batten are quoted on site because the openings and corners decide the price. All figures on this page are typical 2026 Lower Mainland installed prices, CAD, before GST.
That puts metal at the top of the siding market, above James Hardie fibre cement at $10 to $20 and well above vinyl at $7 to $14. This page explains why, what moves a quote, how the whole-house numbers compare, and when the higher price pays back. We install metal cladding and nothing else, so where another material is the better buy we say so.
Metal siding prices per square foot
The table below gives typical ranges by profile. Treat them as the band a quote should land in; the house decides where.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standing seam or flat metal wall panels | $15 to $25 per sq ft of wall | Aluminum systems $16.50 to $22.50 |
| Woodgrain aluminum plank (Longboard type) | From $15; premium $25 to $40 per sq ft | Wide band: the system and the finish decide |
| Corrugated and ribbed wall panels | Quoted on site | Openings and corners decide the price. Roof rates do not apply to walls |
| Metal board and batten | Quoted on site | Openings, corners and wall height decide the price |
Typical budget ranges in CAD before GST, reviewed October 2026. Your quote follows an in-person measure.
Why metal costs what it does
A metal wall is made to measure. Panels are roll-formed to the length of each wall or storey, so there are no lap joints along a run, and every corner, window, door, soffit line and base gets its own bent trim in the same metal and colour. The finish is applied in the factory, and the PVDF paint systems we install carry warranties of 20 to 40 years for film adhesion and 10 to 30 years against chalk and fade, which is what you are buying instead of a painting schedule.
The labour is the other half. Where vinyl is nailed up by the box and Hardie by the board, metal is cut, hemmed and fitted on site and its trim is fabricated for the house. On a plain wall that labour is modest. On a cut-up wall it is most of the quote.
What openings and flashings do to a quote
Two houses with the same wall area can be a long way apart in price, and the difference is almost always the number of openings and corners. Each window and door needs a head flashing that kicks water out over the panel below, jamb trims down both sides and a sill detail, and each corner needs its own trim run the full height of the wall. A rancher with six big windows and four corners is a quick job. A two-storey with twenty windows, two bays and a bump-out is mostly trim.
Window and door flashing has no fair per-square-foot price and is easy to leave out of a quote, so only an in-person measure can price it. It is the first thing we count.
How metal compares with other siding
Typical Lower Mainland ranges for the common alternatives are below. Most already include standard rainscreen strapping and basic trim.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| James Hardie lap siding | $10 to $20 per sq ft | Board and batten and shingle profiles sit in the top half |
| Vinyl siding | $7 to $14 per sq ft | Premium and insulated vinyl $10 to $16 |
| LP SmartSide engineered wood | $9 to $16 per sq ft | |
| Cedar bevel siding | $14 to $26 per sq ft | Plus staining every few years |
Typical budget ranges in CAD before GST, reviewed October 2026. Your quote follows an in-person measure.
On a house with roughly 2,000 square feet of wall, typical whole-house figures are $12,000 to $20,000 for vinyl, $19,000 to $40,000 for Hardie, $18,000 to $32,000 for LP SmartSide and $24,000 to $60,000 for cedar. Metal has no fixed whole-house figure. At $15 to $25 per square foot, 2,000 square feet of wall works out to $30,000 to $50,000 before extras; treat that as arithmetic rather than a quote, because the openings and corners can move it in either direction.
Two other patterns are worth knowing. Suburban and Fraser Valley prices commonly run 10 to 40% below Vancouver proper for the same material. And booking in the off-season helps: a quote taken in November for a March start usually comes in lower than one taken in May for an August start.
Why some metal profiles are quoted on site
Standing seam and flat wall panels hold a fairly steady price, $15 to $25 per square foot, because the panel and the trim work are similar from house to house. Woodgrain aluminum plank is shown as a wide band, from about $15 to $40, because the system and the finish make a big difference. Corrugated, ribbed and board and batten walls vary too much to list: the same panel is inexpensive on a plain shop wall and close to standing seam money on a house full of windows.
These profiles are quoted, not listed. Corrugated and ribbed panels on a shop or barn are usually the least expensive metal wall we install, because the panels are wide and the trim count is low; the same panel on a house with many openings is not. The roofing price for exposed-fastener panels, $8 to $14 per square foot, is a roof price and must not be read as a wall price.
Removal, storeys, rainscreen and the rest
The extras below apply to any cladding, and they are where a tidy per-square-foot number turns into a whole-house total.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Old siding removal and disposal | $1 to $4 per sq ft | |
| Rainscreen strapping and weather barrier | +$1.50 to $4 per sq ft | Usually included in quotes; required on walls in the Lower Mainland |
| Two-storey and height surcharge | +20 to 30% | Scaffold and lift time |
| Metal soffit | $6 to $20 per linear ft | |
| Metal fascia | $6 to $25 per linear ft |
Typical budget ranges in CAD before GST, reviewed October 2026. Your quote follows an in-person measure.
Removal of the old siding is often included in the base rate; where it is separate, budget $1 to $4 per square foot, or $1,000 to $3,500 for a typical house. On houses built before 1990, asbestos and lead testing runs $400 to $1,200 and abatement, if needed, $3,000 to $12,000. Behind the old siding, sheathing repair runs $4 to $8 per square foot of repair area, and it is wise to budget $2,000 to $8,000 for hidden repairs on 1980s and 1990s houses.
Rainscreen strapping and house wrap are usually in the base rate already. Where a quote is for a face-sealed install, a rainscreen adds $1.50 to $4 per square foot, and we do not install cladding without one.
Storeys are the largest multiplier. A two-storey house adds 20 to 30% for scaffolding, typically $2 to $4 per square foot or $1,500 to $4,000 per second-storey elevation. Above two storeys, scaffold or swing-stage access is required and the job is quoted on site, and steep lots in West Vancouver, North Vancouver and on Burnaby Mountain push scaffold costs higher. Soffit and fascia are usually done at the same time.
When metal pays back
Metal pays back on paint. Hardie needs a field re-coat in time, at $4,000 to $9,000 per cycle, typically first due around year 20. Cedar is painted or stained every cycle at $3 to $5 per square foot, which is $6,600 to $11,000 per cycle on a 2,200 square foot house. Metal arrives with a factory finish warranted for decades and is never painted, so the day-one gap between a Hardie wall and a metal wall narrows sharply at the first re-coat and is gone by the second.
It pays back on fire, where it matters: FireSmart BC lists "upgrading to fire-resistant siding" among the work its rebates can cover, and metal does not burn. It pays back on repairs, which are rare and local: a minor repair of a few boards runs $500 to $2,000 for any cladding, and a dented metal panel does not leak in the meantime. And it pays back at the roofline, where a metal roof and metal walls in the same finish age at the same rate.
It does not pay back if you are selling within a few years, if the walls are cut up with small openings, or if the budget is the deciding factor today. In those cases vinyl or Hardie is the better buy, and we will tell you so at the estimate.
Next step
The only accurate metal siding price is one taken from the house. Book a free estimate and we measure the walls in person, count the openings and corners, check what is behind the old siding and give you a written quote by profile. Our metal siding page shows the standing seam, corrugated, board and batten and aluminum plank systems we install.
Metal siding cost questions
Why is corrugated siding quoted on site?
Because a roof rate cannot be reused for walls: a wall has far more corners and openings per square foot, and a shop on girts is a different job from a house on rainscreen. We measure the building and quote it.
Is Longboard worth it?
Where it is seen and touched, most clients think so: soffits, entries, gable ends. Installed prices run from about $15 to $40 per square foot, which puts a whole house in it above Hardie. Used on the features and paired with flat panel elsewhere, it transforms a house for a modest share of the budget.
How much of a siding quote is the openings?
More than people expect. Every window and door needs head, jamb and sill flashings bent to match, and a wall with many windows costs more per square foot than a plain one in the same material. It is the main reason quotes differ.