Siding, cladding, bardage, revestimiento de pared, fachada composite. Five names, one product, and a market where two quotes for the same wall can differ by a third without either being wrong. The difference is almost never the board. It is what the quote includes.
One product under five names
The word changes with the market, and so does what buyers expect it to cover. In North America “siding” usually means the wall finish plus its trim and accessories as a package. In the UK and Australia “cladding” can mean the board alone or the whole system. In France and Spain the same product is sold as bardage and revestimiento, and the fixing method is often specified by the installer rather than the importer.
This matters commercially. When your field teams visited thirteen markets between 2023 and 2026, the recurring gap was not the board, it was the missing pieces around it: the market asked for matching trims, a colour card, test reports and an installation drawing before it would commit. Buyers who ask for those first are the ones who end up with a wall that looks finished.
What a siding quote has to state
Until both quotes describe the same scope, price comparison is meaningless. This is the checklist to send with a request for quotation:
| Line | What it must state | Why it changes the price |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Profile reference and dimensions, colour, surface finish | Different profiles cover a different area per board |
| Generation and process | Which generation the board is, and the surface process by name | Plain WPC, co-extruded WPC and a molecular crystal board are the same colour and a different wall |
| Coverage basis | Boards per square metre, on exposed face, not overall width | The exposed face is roughly 15 percent narrower than the board |
| Waste allowance | Percentage allowed for cutting, corners and openings | A flat facade and a facade full of windows do not need the same allowance |
| Fixing | Clips, screws and joist specification, with centres | Supply-only and supply-and-fix quotes are different products |
| Trims and edging | Corner, start, top and reveal profiles, in matching colour | The part most often left out, and the part the client sees at every corner |
| Fire class | Class letter plus the end-use conditions on the report | A class is only valid for the assembly it was tested in |
| Warranty | Duration, exclusions, and whether labour and substrate are covered | A board-only warranty excludes the failure that costs the money |
| Lead time and terms | Incoterm, port, production window per profile and colour | Custom colours and custom lengths run on separate schedules |
Coverage: the exposed face trap
A siding board is not its nominal width on the wall. The interlocking edge is hidden behind the next board, so what covers the wall is the exposed face. FlowVeins publishes both numbers because the difference decides how much you order:
- FV01: 178 mm board, 150 mm exposed face, 0.435 m² per 2.9 m board.
- FV02: 223 mm board, 195 mm exposed face, 0.5655 m² per 2.9 m board.
Worked example, a 40 m² wall. In FV01 that is 40 / 0.435 = 92 boards. In FV02 it is 40 / 0.5655 = 71 boards. Add 8 percent waste and order 100 and 77 boards respectively. Pricing the same wall from the overall width instead of the exposed face would understate FV01 by about 15 percent, which is the gap between a finished wall and a short delivery.
The parts that decide whether the system lasts
Three details do most of the work, and none of them is the board face:
- The fixing position. The pre-punched holes in the male end exist to set the thermal movement allowance. Fixed outside them, a board that expands has nowhere to go.
- Joist spacing. FlowVeins specifies joists at 300 to 400 mm centres with hidden clips and screws. Wider than specification, the wind load path changes and the board spans further than it was tested for.
- Nothing behind the board. This is designer coordinates above a rainscreen cavity, not a barrier. The wall needs drainage and flashing before the cladding goes on, and this is covered in detail in the rainscreen guide.
Why two boards in the same colour are not the same board
Every quote has a line for the board. Most of them state a colour and a thickness and stop there, and on composite cladding what sits behind that colour decides what the wall looks like in five years. Four generations of composite cladding have been sold into the same market, and the current one, molecular crystal curing, is what FlowVeins uses.
The visible difference is the grain, and it is the one a client notices without being told. On the earlier generations the pattern comes from a single mould, so the same grain repeats board after board and a long elevation shows the rhythm. A pattern that repeats reads as a printed product rather than as timber, and no datasheet corrects that once the wall is up.
FlowVeins carries the brushed texture: the grain is formed in the ASA surface and does not repeat the way a single mould does, which is what puts the appearance at 99% of a timber board. Two more properties come with it, and both land on the maintenance line rather than the purchase line. The core is sealed by the ASA surface, so the panel does not distort as the weather changes, and the colour sits inside the outer layer, so the board does not fade out. A board that holds both carries no repainting cycle over the life of the wall.
That is the ask back to each supplier: the generation and the surface process, not a colour name, plus the number of refinishing cycles their board needs over your hold period. Two quotes that cannot answer both are not yet comparable, whatever the price per square metre says.
Where the paperwork travels and where it does not
Fire classification is the requirement that most often decides a siding purchase, and it is the one that most often fails at the border of a market. From our own field notes: Italy and Japan both require fire classification from a locally accredited laboratory, so a report from another country is not accepted. California requires WUI fire approval per product model, renewed annually. Florida requires a Notice of Acceptance signed by a licensed engineer. Canada asks for a fire-qualified product on commercial facades.
FlowVeins holds EN 13501-1 B-s3, d0 for a 26 mm composite wood wall panel fixed with screws to a substrate, with no joints, in front of a 40 mm ventilated cavity. Report SDHL250200203201HI. The full market-by-market breakdown, with the other five failure modes behind cladding complaints, is in the facade cladding failure guide.
When a siding system is the wrong purchase
- When the wall has to be non-combustible. FlowVeins is B-s3, d0, which is combustible with limited smoke and no flaming droplets.
- When nobody will install to the specified joist centres. A system fixed to a different rule is no longer the tested system.
- When the decision is made on board price alone. Trims, fixing and waste are part of the same budget, and a cheap board with missing accessories ends up costing more.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between siding and cladding?
Regionally, very little. Both describe a protective and decorative outer wall skin. Where the words separate, siding tends to include the trim package while cladding is quoted as the board alone. Confirm the scope in writing before comparing prices.
How many boards do I need per square metre?
On exposed face, 2.30 boards per square metre for FV01 and 1.77 for FV02, which is about 230 and 177 boards per 100 m². Add 5 to 10 percent waste, more on elevations with many openings.
Is a hollow profile weaker than a solid one?
Not in the direction that matters here. The chambers carry the stiffness of the section, and the tested flexural strength is 28.3 MPa after freeze-thaw cycling (ASTM D7031, report SDHL250601030601HI). The hollow section is also part of why a composite board weighs less to handle on site.
Can the boards be installed horizontally and vertically?
Ask for the installation drawing for your orientation before ordering, because the joint and the drainage path are set by the profile. Do not assume the two directions are equivalent until the supplier has confirmed it in writing for your wall.
What colours are standard?
Six: Pale Oak, Ash Silver, Golden Beech, Honey Teak, Smoke Grey and Coffee Walnut. Custom colours and grain patterns are quoted case by case, and they run on separate production schedules.
What is the warranty and what does it cover?
Product documentation lists a 10 year warranty, and the coverage scope follows the formal warranty terms, the configuration supplied and the verified project conditions. Read the warranty and the accelerated ageing result as two separate numbers: one is a commercial commitment, the other is laboratory evidence.
Specification summary
- Profiles: FV01 flat 178 × 15 mm; FV02 slat-wall 223 × 25 mm
- Exposed faces: 150 mm and 195 mm; 0.435 m² and 0.5655 m² per 2.9 m board
- Length: 2.9 m standard, custom lengths on request
- Fixing: hidden clips and screws, joists at 300 to 400 mm centres
- Certificates: FSC ESTS-COC-240458, four SGS reports, EN 13501-1 B-s3, d0 (26 mm specimen)
- Terms: FOB Shenzhen, half a container per profile and colour
Profile drawings, colours and system details are on the exterior wall cladding page. Send the elevation and target port to request a quotation.