Contact Rochester Siding

About us

We don’t want you to call five companies to find one who’ll show up. You describe the job once to us, and we connect you with an independent local contractor who does that kind of work in your area. That’s exactly how our Owner set this up for our business to run.

Our job is figuring out what you’re dealing with — whether it’s peeling clapboard on a 1920s house, cracked vinyl after a windstorm, or water getting behind a window — and getting you to someone suited to it.

1. Knowing this town

Rochester’s housing is among the oldest in the country. Over half of the city’s homes were built before 1940, and roughly another quarter between 1940 and 1969. That means a lot of wood clapboard and shingle siding, much of it covered over with aluminum or vinyl at some point. When that cover comes off, what’s underneath decides the job: sound original wood, rotted sheathing, or several layers of old paint.

That old paint matters. Nearly 90 percent of the city’s housing predates 1980, and a lot of it carries lead paint. Rochester’s own lead law treats deteriorated paint on pre-1978 rental housing as lead unless testing shows otherwise. Federally, contractors who disturb painted exterior surfaces on pre-1978 homes are generally required to be EPA lead-safe certified. So for older Rochester homes, one of the first questions we ask is when the house was built.

2. Built for the local climate

Rochester averages around 90 to 100 inches of snow a year, and about half of it comes from lake effect off Lake Ontario, which usually doesn’t freeze, so the snow machine runs all winter. It’s also uneven: the National Weather Service puts seasonal totals at about 70 inches south of the city and well over 120 inches along the lakeshore to the east. Homes in Irondequoit and along the lake take a different beating than homes in Brighton.

For siding, the problem isn’t snow sitting on a wall. It’s the melt and refreeze. Water that gets behind trim or into a gap at a window head freezes, expands, and opens the gap further every cycle. Ice dams back meltwater down walls under gutters. That’s why we ask callers about flashing, gutters, and soft spots near windows, not just the siding itself, and why a good contractor here checks the house wrap and window flashing before covering anything back up. Exterior work also has a season: first lake snow usually arrives soon after late-October frost, so fall projects fill up early.

3. Local rules and paperwork

The city of Rochester has eight preservation districts, including East Avenue, Corn Hill, Grove Place, and Mt. Hope/Highland. Exterior changes there, siding included, need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Rochester Preservation Board before work starts. The board does turn down vinyl in some cases and has approved fiber cement in others, and owners who install without approval end up applying to “legalize” the work after the fact. If your house is in one of these districts, that’s the first thing to settle with your contractor.

Outside the districts, the main question is which building department handles your address. The city of Rochester and towns like Greece, Irondequoit, and Brighton each run their own building departments with their own permit requirements. Landlords in the city also face exterior paint inspections under the lead ordinance when renewing a certificate of occupancy. We tell callers which of these probably applies, and the contractor handles the actual permits and approvals.

4. How we work

• One call, one description. We take down the siding type, the problem, where on the house it is, and the year the house was built, so you don’t repeat it to the contractor.
• We ask about house age every time. Pre-1978 homes get flagged so the contractor knows lead-safe practices may apply.
• We flag preservation districts. If your address may be in one, we say so before you get a quote.
• No obligation. You talk to the contractor directly and decide whether to hire them. Calling us costs you nothing.
• A second connection if the first isn’t a fit. Call back and we’ll try another local contractor.
• Contractor standards check. Insurance, New York State or local registration, and EPA lead-safe certification for older homes.

5. Our service area

• Park Avenue: older homes with detailed trim. Parts of this area fall within the East Avenue Preservation District, so check before changing siding material.
• Corn Hill / East Avenue: both are city preservation districts, where siding changes go to the Preservation Board.
• Charlotte: the lakefront neighborhood takes the most wind and moisture in the city. Beach Avenue here is its own preservation district.
• Irondequoit: a lakeshore town east of the city, which tends to catch heavier lake-effect snow, plus a mix of mid-century homes with aging aluminum siding.
• Greece: larger postwar and later subdivisions with long, straight wall runs, where panel alignment and drainage at downspouts matter most.
• Brighton: older homes and mature trees; shade and debris can hide moisture problems at the bottom of walls until trim softens.