Why the envelope should be one project, not four
Your siding, windows, doors, house wrap, flashing and trim are a single water-management system. When a siding company, a window company and a handyman each touch it in different years, the seams between their work are where the water gets in, and nobody owns the leak. Done as one project, the sequence is right (windows flashed and integrated with the wrap before cladding), the scaffolding is paid for once, and one contractor owns the whole wall.
"I get called to diagnose leaks that three different companies each swear is the other guy's work. They are all right, because the leak is in the handoff between them. The wall does not care whose scope it was. One envelope, one contract, one throat to choke: mine."
Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.
What a coordinated exterior includes
- Siding: vinyl, engineered wood and fibre cement, over proper house wrap and flashing details
- Windows and doors: supplied and installed with integrated flashing, or install-only on your supplied units
- Soffit, fascia and eavestrough coordination, the top edge of the same water system
- Porches, columns and entry rebuilds, including century-home detailing
- Insulation upgrades under new cladding: exterior rigid insulation while the walls are open is the cheapest R-value you will ever buy, and window/door and insulation work may qualify for the provincial rebates in the Home Renovation Savings programme ($100 per window/door opening on the bundled path)
While the scaffolding is up is also the cheapest moment for two neighbours of this work: porch and deck structures, and drainage corrections at grade that prevent the basement problems our waterproofing service exists to fix.
Permits and the heritage caveat
Like-for-like recladding generally needs no permit; enlarging openings, structural repairs behind the wall, and porch structures can trigger one, per exactly which work triggers a permit. On designated heritage properties in Brantford and the county, exterior alterations need heritage approval first, and on century homes generally the honest approach is the one in the century-home specialty: repair and match where the fabric matters, replace where it does not.
The same rules as every page here
Itemized written quote, allowances named, the 10 percent estimate protection intact, staged payments, and credentials you can check through the WSIB and insurance routine. Exterior work is the most door-knocked, storm-chased trade in Ontario; the vetting matters double here.