# Vinyl Soffit Panels



## user182 (Jan 17, 2009)

I am thinking about offering aluminum trim and vented soffit as an add-on option.

It would benefit homeowners that do not have adequate soffit vents and it would eliminate the need to paint the trim and soffit. 

Have you had any success offering trim & soffit as an add-on?

Do you feel it is worth the time that it would take to figure out the price for trim and soffit?

The only obstacle is coming up with a quick and easy way to estimate the trim and soffit. 

Also I would have to determine if I want to offer it as a way to add intake venting only or offer to cover the trim on the gable ends also. If the owner only wanted to improve the intake vents then I would have to be able to give them a break down.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

I wouldn't do completely perforated if I was doing an entire job. I'd use an invisivent or something. We offer it when they need it. We also do gutters so it's kind of natural to do soffit too. Quick and easy estimating is no problem. Do it by the linear foot and then add for each corner. I like my corners mitered. MY siding crew can do it twice as fast as my roofing crew though. I estimate 25' for 2 men per hour, or $9 a foot labor & material.


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## user182 (Jan 17, 2009)

Grumpy said:


> I wouldn't do completely perforated if I was doing an entire job. I'd use an invisivent or something. We offer it when they need it. We also do gutters so it's kind of natural to do soffit too. Quick and easy estimating is no problem. Do it by the linear foot and then add for each corner. I like my corners mitered. MY siding crew can do it twice as fast as my roofing crew though. I estimate 25' for 2 men per hour, or $9 a foot labor & material.


When you say $9 per foot are you talking about your cost for labor & materials to cove the fascia, soffit and frieze board? The frieze board is the trim board below the soffit and at the top of the wall.

Around here a sub labor is around $1.5 per ft for trim and $1 per foot for soffit, materials around $2 per foot. For fascia and soffit total around $4.5 per foot. If it has a frieze board add $2.5 for a total of $7. It would more for a wider soffit.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Frieze is an extra $5. Minus $1- per foot if this work is being done in conjunction with a roof or siding project. Sometimes we get called just to do soffit and fascia. Not often but sometimes. 

I pay my subs $3.5 per linear foot for soffit (up to 2') and fascia labor only, and extra $1.5 for the frieze. That's off the top of my head but sounds about right.

I figure 100 linear feet of fascia per roll of 2'x50' trim coil, although we can usually get 150' out of the roll, it's just good to estimate on the conservative side. A roll is $70 or so. That makes fascia or frieze at $0.70 a foot. I forget what soffit is costing right now, and don't forget soffit channel, staples and trim nails. Yeah maybe $2 a foot for materials is about right. 

Therefore if I am paying out $5.5 a foot for fascia and soffit, and they can do 2-300 feet per day, that means I need to make $1000 markup per 200 feet or, $5 per foot. That means bare bones cost should be $10.5 per foot. 

Whoa I am under cutting myself by charging $9. I gotta check on those prices tomorrow.


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## user182 (Jan 17, 2009)

Grumpy said:


> I wouldn't do completely perforated if I was doing an entire job. I'd use an invisivent or something. We offer it when they need it. We also do gutters so it's kind of natural to do soffit too. Quick and easy estimating is no problem. Do it by the linear foot and then add for each corner. I like my corners mitered. MY siding crew can do it twice as fast as my roofing crew though. I estimate 25' for 2 men per hour, or $9 a foot labor & material.


When you sell trim & soffit with a roofing job is it typically to add intake vents or because they want a maintenance free exterior, or both?

I think I would rather figure the price to cover all of the fascia and soffit including the gable ends, that way they will have maintenance free and improved venting. I guess if they were pinching pennies I could figure a price that only included fascia and soffit so that we could improve the venting. But I want to avoid figuring prices for too many options; it would take too much time.

I am thinking about this because I frequently encounter soffit strip venting that has been painted over and the openings are blocked by paint. If that’s the case the soffit material would need to be removed by using a saw to cut away the wood.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Well if they need vents, I explain that is one option. Depending on what kind of soffit they have, sometimes I will just cut in 4"x16" vents. If I am going to do the soffit, I am going to do all the soffit including the gables in addition to the overhangs. 

We will typically take a circular saw and cut the wood open from end to end or if it's rotted a little bit, we'll just tear down the existing plywood soffit before installing the new soffit panels. A common problem I see is that alot of siding guys never cut in the vent holes, but LOL do put the vent panels.


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## user182 (Jan 17, 2009)

Grumpy said:


> Well if they need vents, I explain that is one option. Depending on what kind of soffit they have, sometimes I will just cut in 4"x16" vents. If I am going to do the soffit, I am going to do all the soffit including the gables in addition to the overhangs.
> 
> We will typically take a circular saw and cut the wood open from end to end or if it's rotted a little bit, we'll just tear down the existing plywood soffit before installing the new soffit panels. A common problem I see is that alot of siding guys never cut in the vent holes, but LOL do put the vent panels.


We cut in a lot of 8" x 16" soffit vets or 4" for a small overhang.

If you are trying to balance your soffit vents with ridge vent and they have a 6” overhang you will need a lot of 4” soffit vents to make it balance so you might as wall go continuous venting. Same thing if they have strip vent that is blocked by paint.

Like you said, frequently siding guys don’t add enough soffit vents and that is a problem for the homeowner if it is relatively new. I hate to break the bad news to them when I see it.


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## user182 (Jan 17, 2009)

*Prefab fascia*



Grumpy said:


> Well if they need vents, I explain that is one option. Depending on what kind of soffit they have, sometimes I will just cut in 4"x16" vents. If I am going to do the soffit, I am going to do all the soffit including the gables in addition to the overhangs.
> 
> We will typically take a circular saw and cut the wood open from end to end or if it's rotted a little bit, we'll just tear down the existing plywood soffit before installing the new soffit panels. A common problem I see is that alot of siding guys never cut in the vent holes, but LOL do put the vent panels.


What’s your opinion of prefab fascia?

It’s a little more expensive about $1 per ft for 6”.

It’s a little thicker than trim coil; some people don’t like the lines it has on it. I've never been a big fan of it. The only advantage is the rigidity it has.

Do you prefer prefab or custom?


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Prefab fascia looks like ass and if you have a break a skilled break man can bend up fascia as fast as you can take prefab out of the box. The other day I was showing one of my guys who was slow like a snail on the break how fast you can bend up a piece of fascia, I mean it's totally basic. measure how high you want your fascia to be and add 1.5". Scribe in the brake with a utility knife bend and rip the metal, Unlock, slide the metal back in just lining up the edge of the metal witht he edge of the lip, fold allt he way over. Pull it out clamp it down in the brake so it's a complete hem. Put it back in the brake again, fold it 90 degrees, done. This entire process takes less than a minute to bend up 10' and most guys I know don't even do the extra bend on the bottom. Let's say you have to do 10 pieces, you can fly. 

Another tip is at the top of the fascia, at a gable or if there is no gutter or drip edge, bend a kind-of Z flashing, which gives the fascia stability and prevents it from wrinkling. 

I have prefab on my own home and every day I look at it I want to puke. Those ribs in the prefab capture dust BTW. 

The trim coil doesn't need to be any thicker than .019 if you know what you are doing. The more bends a piece of metal has the less likley it is to wrinkle. Plus the less fasteners used and properly placed also the less likely it is to wrinkle. If you really want thicker trim coil, just buy .024 from your siding supplier. Colors are limited, but white's available for sure. 

Custom all the way. I'd only use prefab if a customer insisted on it or we were doing a repair and tryign to match.


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## tomstruble (Jan 19, 2009)

thanks grump lotsa good info there


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