Blake Patterson wrote:
What is the approximate multiplier for cost of replacing siding on a
house vs. painting that siding?

There's a multiplier between "purchase cost of new vinyl siding" and
"painting cost of new vinyl siding", but it's really a bit of an
exercise, since with clapboard you *must* paint or it begins to
deteriorate, while vinyl will happily last you a decade or two longer
without you even touching it. Part of your multiplier should be "sitting
on my ass and watching the vinyl color imperceptibly fade year after
year", because that costs you nothing at all.

I have vinyl and I beleive masonite siding on the majority of my house
and I realize the iffy nature of painting vinyl (and similar, lesser
issues of painting masonite) but just am wondering, that aside, what
the cost multiplier would be in general.

Vinyl can be anywhere from 50 cents to 2 dollars per sq. ft. for
materials. Paint is more on the order of 5 to 10 cents per sq. ft.
Labor, I'm guessing, is about the same, depending on house configuration.