A real multifamily siding bid itemizes the whole job: material and profile, full tear-off, a sheathing/rot-repair allowance, the water-resistive barrier, all flashing (including kick-out flashing), trim, disposal, access equipment, a resident-disruption plan, warranty terms, and clearly separated alternates for phasing. When a bid leaves one of these off, the work doesn’t disappear — it comes back as a change order once the wall is open and the price is no longer competitive. This checklist is how a board tells a complete proposal from a number that will grow.
This page lists every line item, explains why each matters in Minnesota’s climate, and gives you a copy-into-the-RFP checklist.
What is the Replacement Scope Map?
The Replacement Scope Map is the bid-prep framework that organizes a multifamily siding bid into the components that actually drive the outcome: moisture and wall protection, resident disruption, board-ready bid scope, and reserve/capital planning. Applied to a single bid, it becomes a line-item checklist — every component that must be priced separately so vendors can be compared and nothing hides in a lump sum. It’s the signature tool of this site precisely because “make the bids comparable” is the most under-served need in multifamily siding.
Used well, the Scope Map turns the procurement from a trust exercise (“their number seems fair”) into a verification exercise (“their number includes every line we required”). See the interactive version at the Replacement Scope Map.
Reviewed against public source material from Ben Juncker and Craftsmans Choice, without presenting their contractor credentials as this sites own.
What are the required line items?
The required line items are the components that must each appear and be priced in any complete bid. The table groups them by Scope Map category and notes why each matters in Minnesota:
| Line item | Why it matters (MN context) |
|---|---|
| Material & profile (exact product) | So every bid prices the identical product, not “a gray siding” |
| Full tear-off | Removing old cladding to inspect the wall; not all bids include it |
| Sheathing/rot-repair allowance | Hidden rot is near-universal on aging buildings; the #1 change-order source |
| Water-resistive barrier (WRB) | The drainage plane behind cladding; required by MN code |
| Flashing — windows, doors, penetrations | The detail most stucco/EIFS leaks trace back to |
| Kick-out flashing | Required when re-siding; catches roof-wall leaks |
| Trim, fascia, soffit, transitions | Often excluded from low bids, then added later |
| Disposal | Tear-off generates large volumes; must be priced |
| Access equipment (scaffold/lifts) | Multi-story occupied buildings need real access plans |
| Resident-disruption plan | Notices, parking, balcony/entry access on occupied buildings |
| Permit & inspection coordination | Re-siding requires permits and inspections in MN |
| Warranty (labor + material, separate) | Compare apples-to-apples; LP 50-yr vs Hardie 30-yr differ |
| Alternates for phasing | Lets the board phase across budget years |
Why are the wall-system items non-negotiable?
The wall-system items — WRB, flashing, kick-out flashing, and the rot allowance — are the ones behind Minnesota’s well-documented stucco and EIFS moisture failures: water that got past the cladding because the barrier and flashing weren’t detailed right. A bid that omits or underprices them is, in effect, bidding the next leak regardless of how good the panel on the outside is.
Minnesota code treats these as requirements, not best practices. A continuous water-resistive barrier is required behind the cladding, flashing must be applied shingle-fashion, and kick-out flashing must be installed when re-siding existing buildings (MN DLI fact sheet; MN Rule 1309.0703). An inspector checks each of them before the new siding hides the wall, so a bid that skips them won’t pass inspection anyway. Insist they’re priced as their own lines — see the wall system explained.
How should allowances and alternates appear?
Allowances and alternates should appear as named, separately-priced lines, not buried in the base price. An allowance (for hidden rot) sets a baseline quantity and a unit price, so overages bill at a pre-agreed rate and every bid prices the unknown the same way. An alternate (for phasing) is a clearly separated option — e.g., “Buildings 1–3 now, Buildings 4–6 as Alternate A” — so the board can right-size the project to its funding without re-bidding.
How they should look on the bid:
- Rot/sheathing allowance: ”$[X] per sheet of sheathing / $[X] per linear foot of framing, baseline assumption [N] units, overages billed at the stated unit price.” (Get the actual unit rates from your contractors’ quotes.)
- Phasing alternates: each phase as its own priced line, with the base bid and each alternate totaled separately.
- Unit pricing for additions: so any added scope during the project has a known rate, not a negotiated-under-pressure number.
This structure is what lets you compare overage exposure across bids, not just base prices. See comparing siding bids line by line.
What does an incomplete bid look like?
An incomplete bid looks deceptively clean: a low total with a short scope that omits tear-off, the rot allowance, the WRB, flashing, or trim — the items that would have raised the number. It often reads as a single lump sum (“Re-side building: $[X]”) with no line items, which is the tell. The danger is that it wins on price, then the omitted work returns as change orders once the wall is open and the board has no leverage.
Red flags that signal an incomplete bid:
- A lump sum with no itemization
- No rot/sheathing allowance (or “rot repair billed as needed” with no rate)
- WRB and flashing not mentioned or “included” without detail
- Trim, fascia, soffit, or disposal absent
- No resident-disruption or access plan on an occupied building
- Warranty stated vaguely or labor and material warranties combined
- No permit/inspection responsibility named
A bid showing several of these red flags isn’t a bargain; it’s a proposal with the expensive parts left out. When you spot that pattern, get the bid checked against the full checklist before it goes to a vote — a siding bid scope review does exactly that.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What’s the most commonly omitted item in a siding bid? The hidden-rot/sheathing-repair allowance, followed by flashing detail and trim. These are the items that raise the number, so they’re the ones a low bid quietly drops — then bills as change orders once the wall is open. Require them as named line items.
Q: Should a siding bid be a lump sum or itemized? Itemized. A lump sum can’t be compared to other bids and lets omissions hide. Require each component — material, tear-off, rot allowance, WRB, flashing, trim, disposal, access, warranty, alternates — to be priced separately.
Q: What flashing should the bid specify? Flashing at all windows, doors, and penetrations, applied shingle-fashion, plus kick-out flashing at roof-wall intersections, which is required when re-siding in Minnesota. These are inspection items and central to preventing the moisture failures common on Twin Cities buildings.
Q: How should warranty appear on the bid? With labor and material warranties stated separately, since they differ — for example, LP SmartSide carries a 50-year limited material warranty while James Hardie carries 30 years, and the contractor’s labor warranty is a separate term. Comparing them apples-to-apples requires they be itemized.
Walk your own bids through the Replacement Scope Map line by line, or have us do it for you.
Last updated: 2026-06-27. Part of hiring and bidding.