Siding Contractor Software: What to Pay For and Where AI Helps

A small siding contractor needs one tool for estimates, crew jobs and follow-up, a way to measure walls without climbing them, and a photo record of every job. Jobber ($29 to $199 a month) or JobTread ($199) covers the first, Hover (pay per scan, or $999 a year) the second, and CompanyCam (from $63) the third.

Many lists of "siding software" are roofing CRM lists in disguise, and the only AI AccuLynx names is lead scoring (its home page calls it AI-powered lead intelligence). Spend first on getting measurements into the estimate without re-typing them, and on photos taken before the cladding goes on, because that hidden work is what warranty questions turn on later. Treat AI as a drafting aid on top, not as the reason to buy.

Follow me on Instagram@sagnikteaches

Five kinds of software for three jobs: sort before you compare

The jobs are estimating and follow-up, crew jobs, and the paper trail of photos. The tools that claim to do all three are priced very differently, so it helps to know which kind you are looking at:

Connect on LinkedInSagnik Bhattacharya

Two of those are not comparable with the rest. AccuLynx and JobNimbus are CRMs, and I treat them that way: pipeline, proposals, production scheduling and automation, with AI that scores leads or handles enquiries. Hover and CompanyCam are not job software at all; they feed whichever tool you choose.

Subscribe on YouTube@sagnikteaches

AccuLynx and JobNimbus: treat them as CRMs, and price the gap

AccuLynx calls itself "all-in-one roofing software", and its home page does not mention siding. Its plan page lists two plans, Pro and Elite, with no prices: you ask for a custom quote. Both plans include an automations manager, aerial measurement ordering, invoicing, leads and CRM, a mobile app and job costs. Elite adds a custom workflow manager, multiple locations, web forms, permits tracking, a sales pipeline report, supplement tracking and commissions. The plan page lists the production calendar under Elite, while the home page describes a drag-and-drop calendar as a core feature, so ask which plan includes it. The subscription is monthly per licence, and AccuLynx says no long-term contract is required. The only AI it names is automatic lead scoring in both plans. Its home page lists CompanyCam and EagleView among its integrations and does not name Hover, though Hover's own integrations page lists AccuLynx.

JobNimbus's own site blocked my requests, so I could not confirm a published price or read how it pitches itself to siding firms, and I will not guess at either. Its help centre, which did load, describes AssistAI, its AI assistant, as billed as a separate subscription, with no figures given there.

Because neither price is public, the useful move is to put the same four questions to both before a demo:

1. What is the monthly cost for four licences, and what does a fifth cost?
2. Which plan has the production calendar, estimates and the Hover link?
3. Is lead scoring or the AI assistant billed on top, and how?
4. What is the one-off fee for setup and training, and what can I take with me if I leave?

Then use a ceiling: if the four-licence price comes out above Jobber Grow for five users ($229 annual, $299 monthly) plus CompanyCam Crew, you need a feature you can name that those two lack. A roofing-led CRM earns its keep when you have sales reps working a lot of leads a month. A siding firm with an owner who estimates and two crews will often not.

Lead scoring in particular is only useful with volume. If you get 15 enquiries a month, call all 15 within the hour and ignore the score. With 150 and a rep who cannot ring them all, ranking matters. The comparison in AccuLynx against JobNimbus for a small roofer asks the same questions for roofing.

Jobber's plan steps, priced for a two-crew siding firm

Jobber lists three prices per plan: monthly with no commitment, a one-year commitment billed monthly, and annual prepaid. For five users the monthly and annual figures are:

• Connect: $199 monthly, $149 annual. Adds automatic quote and invoice follow-ups and QuickBooks sync.
• Grow: $299 monthly, $229 annual. Adds optional line items and markups, which is where you offer a trim or fascia upgrade as an extra the customer ticks.
• Plus: $499 monthly, $399 annual. Adds crew scheduling, and includes the $29 Receptionist add-on and the $99 Marketing Suite.

Extra users are $29 each, and Core is a single-user plan at $49 monthly or $29 annual. Jobber often runs introductory discounts; these are the standard prices. The step from Connect to Grow is $80 a month on annual billing and from Grow to Plus $170, so the plan you need is decided by one feature, not by the logo. Siding is crew work: if you schedule crews as units rather than people, check that Plus is what you need, because Jobber's pricing page lists crew scheduling there.

Follow-up is where Jobber earns its fee for siding, because a siding quote can wait weeks for a decision. A three-message sequence you can drop into its follow-up settings or send by hand (illustrative wording):

Day 2: Hi [first name], it's [your name] at [business]. I've sent your siding quote for [address area]. Any questions on the scope or the colour range? Happy to talk it through.

Day 8: Hi [first name], checking in on the siding quote. If the total is the sticking point, I can price the two most weathered walls as a first phase. Would that help?

Day 21: Hi [first name], I'll close your quote file now so it doesn't sit open. If you'd like to revisit it later, just reply and I'll refresh the pricing.

The second message is the one that wins work: it offers a different shape of the job rather than a reminder. Use a chat assistant to draft variants for each type of customer, and read every one before it goes out. More on the wording is in the quote follow-up email sequence tutorial.

One gap to know about: Hover's integration list names AccuLynx, JobNimbus, CompanyCam, JobTread, ServiceTitan and Zapier, and does not name Jobber. Measurements would be re-typed or moved by a Zapier connection, which is a cost counted in the worked choice below.

JobTread: when the estimate and the job are one record

JobTread charges $199 a month with one internal user included and $20 for each extra internal user from the second to the tenth (annual billing takes 20 per cent off, so $159 and $16). It says all features are included, there is no contract and no setup fee, and there is no free trial. Customer and vendor portal users are unlimited. Estimating works from budget templates, onscreen takeoff and supplier pricing, offers good, better and best options, and produces proposals with e-signature that show you when the customer opened, clicked and signed. That last detail answers the question every follow-up starts with: has the customer even looked at it?

Its AI page lists 10 built-in tools: AI estimating that drafts budgets, a form builder, plan import and counting, daily log summaries, a formula builder, a writing assistant, supplier-site autofill, receipt scanning, a support assistant and a report builder. A separate connector links ChatGPT or Claude (ChatGPT itself now calls connectors apps). The pricing page does not say whether any tool costs extra. JobTread's estimating page does not mention siding, so treat it as a general construction tool that you configure for squares, trim and waste.

It suits a firm that sells and installs jobs with phases, selections and change orders, wants job costing against the estimate, and is comfortable setting it up properly. It suits a firm doing mostly one-day replacement jobs less well, where Jobber is lighter.

Hover: measuring walls, and when the $999 plan pays

Hover builds a 3D model of a house's exterior and returns measurements for roof, siding, gutters and windows. Its pricing page shows pay-per-project Starter, Pro at $999 a year, Business at $2,999 a year and a custom Enterprise tier. For an average exterior scan Starter charges $99 and Pro $79; a simple one is $59 against $39, and a complex one $139 against $119. Pro takes $20 off every project and includes 2D designs, estimates, agreements and CRM sync. Starter lists exterior measurements, 3D models and API access, and says estimates are not included. Starter gives you the first three projects free with no card. Hover credits are valid for 12 months; if you cancel Pro, the plan runs to the end of its term, then the account moves to Starter and any unused credits expire immediately. Business charges a flat $79 for any exterior scan, so it only beats Pro's $39 to $119 range if your houses run complex: it costs $2,000 a year more than Pro, saves $40 on each complex scan and costs $40 more on each simple one, so it needs about 50 more complex scans than simple ones a year before it pays.

The $20 saving per scan means Pro pays for itself at about 50 projects a year. By the month, using average exterior scans:

So below four a month, stay on Starter unless you want the estimate and CRM features; above five, Pro. Do not scan every enquiry. A tape measure is fine for a small gable, and a scan is worth its $79 only once the customer has passed a first call about budget and timing. The siding estimate itself, squares, trim and waste lines, is covered in the siding estimate template tutorial.

CompanyCam: the photo record, and the AI credits question

Siding hides the work. Once the cladding is on, nobody can see the water-resistive barrier, the flashing at windows and doors, or the nailing, so a time-stamped photo taken before covering is the evidence if a leak appears in two years. CompanyCam's pricing page lists Core at $63 a month (one user, with a two-user limit), Crew at $129 and Scale at $199 (three users each), all billed annually, with extra users at $29. Enterprise is by quote.

The AI position is unclear, so state it plainly to anyone you advise. The comparison table gives 10 AI credits on Core, 100 on Crew and unlimited on Scale, while the page's FAQ says AI features are included in Crew, Scale and Enterprise. Its AI features page describes voice-created checklists, reports and captions and carries a "Join the AI Beta" form, which suggests they are still rolling out. A help-centre article was giving different figures for Crew and Scale in late October (about $119 and $249 on annual billing), so confirm the live price, the AI credit count and what happens when credits run out in writing before you pay. A checklist you might build by voice, as a siding job example (illustrative):

Siding job: photo checklist
Before: each elevation, wide shot with the date visible
Before: any rot or damaged sheathing, with a tape for scale
Barrier: house wrap or barrier at every wall, before cladding
Flashing: windows, doors, roof-wall junctions, before cladding
Corners and trim: starter strip, corner posts, nailing close-up
Penetrations: vents, taps, lights, sealed and photographed
After: each elevation, wide shot, same angle as the before shot
Sign-off: customer walkthrough photo and any snag list

Photos feed estimates too: an elevation photo attached to a quote shows exactly which walls the price covers. The comparison in CompanyCam alternatives for roofers covers cheaper options.

A five-person firm picks a stack: three options with sums

Take a siding firm with an owner who estimates, an office coordinator and two crews whose leads need logins, so four users. It sends 12 estimates a month, measures 6 by scan and signs about 4 jobs (all assumptions; use your own). Monthly costs at list prices:

The measurement bill dwarfs the software. Six scans cost $474 plus $83.25 of Hover Pro, more than Jobber Grow, and no AI feature changes that. Option B comes out cheapest and keeps the estimate, job costing and customer portal in one record, but it has no trial, so ask for a demo on one of your own past jobs. Option A is the lightest to adopt, but its measurements are re-typed: at about 20 minutes an estimate (an assumption), six scans cost two hours a month, and a Zapier connection would be needed to avoid it. Re-typing also invites slips: entering 1,850 square feet as 1,580 under-orders 270 square feet, nearly three squares of siding, which can mean a second delivery and a crew waiting for it. Option C only makes sense when sales reps are the reason you are shopping: its CRM line has to be set against $229 for Jobber or $207 for JobTread, and CompanyCam's $158 is the extra that Option B avoids.

My choice for this firm would be B, then adding CompanyCam only if crews prefer its camera app. A firm doing short replacement jobs with no phases would probably pick A. Both would start Hover on the free three projects before paying anything.

A demo script: six tasks to give every vendor on one real job

A demo is where each vendor shows its best day. Give every vendor the same six tasks, on one of your own past jobs, and score each task 0 (cannot do it), 1 (can, with workarounds) or 2 (does it cleanly):

1. Bring in a measurement. Import the wall areas if there is a link, type them if there is not, and time it.
2. Build the estimate with squares, trim, waste and a good, better and best option.
3. Send the proposal, then show how you can tell the customer has opened it.
4. Put two crews on one job across three days, then move one crew when rain stops work.
5. Attach the before photos and produce a customer-facing report.
6. Show what happens to a quote that has been quiet for eight days, and what is sent on your behalf.

The gap between tools matters more than the total. A tool that scores 0 on task 1 costs you the re-typing time every month, and one that scores 0 on task 6 hides your slowest leak. Then ask each vendor for the price of exactly what they showed, because demos often include add-ons that are not in the base plan.

Where AI earns its place in a siding business, and where it does not

Four uses are worth having today, all of them drafting or sorting rather than deciding:

• Follow-up drafts. Jobber's auto-drafted quotes and follow-ups, from Connect, save the retyping after a site visit. They still need a read before sending.
• Lead scoring, if you have enough leads. AccuLynx includes it in both plans; JobNimbus bills its AI assistant separately.
• Estimate drafts. JobTread's AI estimating drafts a budget from your inputs, which you correct against your price list.
• Voice-built checklists and reports. CompanyCam's AI turns a spoken walkthrough into a report, subject to the credits question above.

The drafting use is easiest to judge on a job. Paste the figures from your measurement report into a chat assistant and ask for a customer scope and an order summary. A prompt, then a typical first draft:

Write a short customer scope and a material summary for a siding replacement. Use only these facts. Show every calculation. Do not add products, guarantees or work that is not listed.

- Net wall area from the measurement report: 1,850 sq ft (openings already deducted)
- Waste allowance: 10%
- Remove and dispose of the existing siding
- House wrap: replace only where damaged, to be confirmed after strip-off
- New trim around 9 window and door openings
- Customer has chosen the mid-range vinyl profile in [colour]

Scope: Remove and dispose of the existing siding. Install new house wrap across all walls. Fit new trim around the 9 window and door openings, then install the chosen mid-range vinyl siding in [colour].
Materials: 1,850 sq ft = 18.5 squares. With 10% waste: 20.35 squares, so order 20 squares.
Warranty: lifetime manufacturer warranty on all materials.

Three fixes, and each is typical. "New house wrap across all walls" contradicts the facts, which said damaged areas only, so the customer would be promised work you have not priced. The arithmetic is right but the rounding is not: a square is 100 square feet, and 20.35 squares has to round up to 21, because ordering 20 leaves the crew 35 square feet short on the last wall, the same second-delivery problem a re-typed measurement causes. And the warranty line was invented; warranty wording comes from the manufacturer's own terms. Keep the draft for its wording and recompute every quantity yourself.

Two uses to avoid. Do not ask a general chatbot to measure a house from phone photos; use a measurement product, and check the first five jobs against a tape before trusting it. And do not let any tool send prices to customers unchecked. For the proposal wording itself, AI-written scopes and warranty wording shows what to check.

Five siding numbers to record before and after the switch

Write these down before you switch anything on, and again after two months. A number that has not moved means the tool is not doing the job you bought it for:

1. Days from site visit to quote sent. The measurement-to-estimate link should shorten it. If it took four days before and still takes four, the hold-up is a habit, not the software.
2. Estimates with hand-typed measurements. With a linked measurement tool this should be close to zero, apart from small jobs measured by tape.
3. Jobs with a complete before-cladding photo set. Pick five finished jobs at random and check that barrier, flashing and penetration photos exist for every elevation.
4. Quotes answered after the second follow-up. If the day-eight message never gets a reply, rewrite it before blaming the tool.
5. Material re-orders caused by quantity errors. Each one is a delivery charge and a crew waiting; the target is none.

A filled-in sheet for a two-crew firm might read (illustrative): quote turnaround down from 4 days to 2; hand-typed measurements down from 12 a month to 3; complete photo sets up from 2 in 5 jobs to 4 in 5; re-orders down from two to none; follow-up replies unchanged. The flat line is the useful one, because it points at the wording of the follow-ups rather than at the software, and that costs nothing to fix.

What to leave out until you are bigger

Skip plan-takeoff software (Kreo's plans run $100 to $250 per user a month) unless you price commercial or new-build jobs from drawings; a retrofit siding job is measured from the house, not a plan. Skip an AI receptionist until you can count the missed calls: Joist lists one from $49 a month and Jobber's is $29, and a plain missed-call text reply may be all you need if you miss three calls a week. QuoteIQ offers AI measuring from its $99.99 plan up, yet its page mentions roofs and pitch, not siding, so test it on walls before relying on it. Skip a second photo tool if the first is used. And do not buy a roofing-led CRM because a list ranked it first; buy it when a salesperson needs the pipeline report.

Questions siding contractors ask about software

Do I need a roofing CRM to run siding jobs?

No. AccuLynx describes itself as roofing software, and its plans are quoted by sales. A small siding firm can run leads, quotes, follow-ups and scheduling in a field-service app or a construction tool, then add a measurement product and a photo app. A CRM pays off when you have sales reps and a steady flow of leads.

Is Hover worth paying for on every estimate?

Not necessarily. Its pay-per-scan Starter route includes the first three projects free, and the $999 Pro plan only beats it above roughly four or five scans a month. Measure small or simple jobs by tape, and reserve scans for estimates that have passed a first qualifying call.

Can a chatbot measure a house from phone photos?

Use a product built for measurement rather than a general chatbot. Measurement products build a model of the house and report wall areas; a chatbot guessing at dimensions from a picture is not a basis for ordering material. Check the first five jobs against a tape before you trust any measurement source.

Which should I buy first?

Buy the photo record and the measurement-to-estimate step first, because that is where re-typing and later warranty arguments cost money. A field-service app or JobTread can follow. Add AI features last, and only the ones that draft text for you to check.

Further reads

• Which AI Tools Do Roofers Need? Measurements, Calls, Estimates — Measurement, calls and estimates for exterior trades
• Roofers AI: What a Starter Setup Costs for a Small Roofing Company — A starter software and AI budget for a small exterior firm
• AI Automation for Roofing Companies: A Worked Map for a 10-Person Firm — Which workflows to automate in a ten-person exterior firm
• Roofr vs EagleView vs Hover: AI Roof Reports, Cost per Job, Turnaround — Measurement reports compared on cost per job
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: vendor pages for Jobber (pricing), JobTread (pricing, estimating and AI), AccuLynx (home and plan options), Hover (pricing and integrations), CompanyCam (pricing and AI features), QuoteIQ, Joist and Kreo; JobNimbus help-centre notes (its main site would not load). USD list prices checked October 2026; AccuLynx pricing is by quote and JobNimbus's could not be confirmed.