I have been thinking about siding for a long time now. I would rather not do vinyl, and am pretty sure I am going one step up, to fiber cement board siding. The most popular of which is the James Hardie brand. I dont want to pay $6000 to paint it, so I am going to go with the pre-painted stuff. It is 16% more expensive than the primed stuff ($7.10 vs $6.10 per 6 1/4" x 12' board), well worth it. I think a good quality vinyl siding would work out to about $4.50 for that same size.
But the trim will cost much more for Hardie than vinyl, depending what you get, probably triple the vinyl trim cost.
I am also trying to come up with decent links to Hardie fiber cement jobs. Here is what I found so far:
http://picasaweb.google.com/SicamousDevelopments/RavensCroftSalmonArm#
http://picasaweb.google.com/chander.ganesan/NewHouseJan52008#
http://picasaweb.google.com/sgulick1/OurNewHouse5Interior#
http://picasaweb.google.com/ncc77777/OtterSlideLoop2#
http://picasaweb.google.com/chitojared/FishFoodBank#
http://picasaweb.google.com/chughesconstruction/EscapeBeachside10#
http://picasaweb.google.com/gulfcoastsiding/HardieBoard#
Hopefuly your house won't look like this one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JollyRoberts/SigmanWindowsSidingAtlantaGA#
