Ideal Siding Coquitlam - Coquitlam, British Columbia

Simon H.

Why we opted for James Hardie (JH) fiber cement siding and hired Ideal Siding (IS) to install it:

We wanted to replace our current wooden siding with a zero maintenance siding solution including not having to paint it for a very long time.

JH fiber cement siding comes pre-painted with a special factory-bake-on-paint process which they say lasts much longer but is tricky to install.

JH advertise a list of "ELITE PREFERRED" contractors, and we picked IS because they are likely the biggest residential JH installer in North America.

What we liked about IS:
They did renderings of what the house would finally look like to help us figure out which JH products and colours to use on which bits of house.

What we did NOT like about IS:
We had to be on them to clean up at the end of each day not to leave piles of old wood with nails sticking out dangerously everywhere.
Unlike regular contractors they turned up later -- mid to late morning -- and insisted on working later, often working one to two hours in the dark.
AFAICT IS does not have any in-house install crews, and just subcontracts out jobs to non-IS installers.
During the install, the IS subcontracted installer (ISSI) for our job tried to sell his services to my neighbors on the street, cutting out IS as the middleman.
The ISSI had 10 years of install experience but we noticed they installed the JH material partially incorrectly according to the online PDF JH installation manual.
About this: IS said the manual is only a suggestion. JH staff said off-the-record they would not accept this if it was their house, and on-the-record, they cannot get involved with the quality of the work of their "ELITE PREFERRED" contractors.
The ISSI had the wrong type of ladders (rests on gutters and not roof next to gutters) for this work and scraped and dented our relatively new gutters everywhere.
We had some internet and TV cables going around the front of the house. IS just left the cables dangling on the ground and left it up to us to re-attach them.
IS installed unwanted, unfinished wood around three doors instead of JH material and said it's our job to finish and paint it.
The initial install looked very shabby and IS wanted to be paid and said the quality is normal. So we had to argue with them to improve the quality.
Note: All attached photos are after IS did several rounds of touching up, and is what they consider finished.
Had we asked IS to re-install some of the material properly then it would likely have resulted in legal action which we didn't want.
In the end IS got in an expert to touch up a lot of the worst parts, which turned into a lot of painting, e.g. most of the white JH trim is now unwantedly painted.

This means we're going to face extra costs down the road, because all the touched-up and painted material is going to weather differently to the JH baked-on paint.
Again IS said they were finished a second time and wanted to be paid, and we had to point out remaining issues on every side of the house.
In the end IS presented us with an inflated bill with surprising and strange extra items e.g. it's extra to replace siding on the porch pillar because "it is not part of the house"!
The entire job should have taken a month but end to end took 3.5 months due to discussions and waiting for the weather to improve for the very many touch-ups.

Conclusions:
The JH "ELITE PREFERRED" contractors list is just marketing and has little to do with the quality of the work, and JH will not get involved in any disputes.
I would trust IS to do a simple JH plank install on a simpler boxy home, but if you have a more custom home or other JH materials they will be out of their depth and you won't be happy.
In the end I wouldn't install JH materials at all unless I was 100% sure that the installer is up to the job because it's not easy material to install.

To check for install quality then a drive by a reference home is insufficient; you cannot see nail heads etc from the street. You need to walk up to the house, and get the owners to dish up a reference about their install experiences.

Janette M.

Ideal Siding did an excellent job and I would recommend them to anyone. They had a team of people and had the whole job done in about a week. They did beautiful work. They provide excellent services. They're a local franchise business and they work to really meet your needs.

Sophia O.

Ideal Siding did a great job with their exterior cladding services. The team was quick to respond, polite, and finished the project on schedule and within the budget. Thanks to their expertise, our home looks fresh and new.

Jordy F.

Hired Ideal Siding to do a siding replacement. They were responsive and gave us a quick estimate. They were also very patient and thorough with explaining everything from the product to the entire installation. Great to work with and responded to questions and concerns immediately.

Kathleen L.

We're really happy we chose Ideal Siding for our home makeover. They pay great attention to detail and care a lot about making clients happy. Our siding looks amazing.

Raymond R.

My experience with Ideal Siding was the best I've ever had with any type of contractor. Their entire staff is very professional and their crew did a fantastic job. Always ensured at the end of the job, the yard was left very tidy.

Alexandr G.

Ideal siding team truly delivered. We needed a fast turnaround in order to put our home up for sale and Oleg and the team were there the same week we called. We were so impressed with the results. Very professional and efficient. Would recommend to anyone looking for top quality, fairly priced workmanship.

Lawrence B.

Ideal Siding's LP Smartside siding installation transformed our home, with project manager Morgan overseeing the efficient completion within the estimated time frame. The impressive results speak to Ideal Siding's expertise, earning our recommendation for their outstanding craftsmanship. Their commitment to excellence and reliable service makes them a trusted choice for any home improvement project, leaving us thoroughly impressed with the overall transformation they achieved.