Siding in Edgartown, Massachusetts

Edgartown is served by Eversource, so homeowners qualify for the full Mass Save program. The siding itself isn't rebated, but the wall-cavity insulation and air-sealing added once the old shingles are off can be subsidized at 75% or more after a free Home Energy Assessment. That tie-in matters here — many older summer homes were built lightly insulated for warm-weather use, and even some year-round homes inherited that thin-wall reality.

The 0% Mass Save HEAT Loan (up to $50,000) can finance qualifying envelope work alongside the re-side. Book the assessment before the project so rebated insulation, air-sealing, and rain-screen detailing under cedar can be coordinated with the siding crew. For shoreline properties, this is the cheapest moment to add continuous insulation and proper drainage planes that extend the new cladding's life in salt air.

Edgartown requires a building permit for residential re-siding through the town Building Department; established contractors file it as part of the job. The Edgartown Village Historic District and other character areas need Historic District Commission review for any visible material or color change before work begins. Most pre-1978 homes — and that includes most of the historic village — trigger the federal Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, so old painted wood and trim must be handled by an EPA-certified, lead-safe crew. Parcels near the harbor, Sengekontacket Pond, Katama Bay, or other resource areas commonly fall inside Wetlands Protection Act buffer zones and need a Conservation Commission filing in addition to the building permit.

Siding costs on Martha's Vineyard run materially above mainland Massachusetts because every material load, dumpster, and out-of-town crew arrives by ferry. A cedar shingle re-side typically runs $28,000–$75,000+ for a whole house depending on size, trim, and historic-district detailing. Painted clapboard restoration on a historic captain's house can sit higher still. Fiber-cement (James Hardie) generally lands around $26,000–$55,000 where allowed by the historic district. Vinyl is rare and often not permissible on visible elevations. Ferry logistics, crew lodging, salt-air detailing, and Wetlands Protection Act review all add to the base regional rate.

Edgartown is a Martha's Vineyard town of about 5,200 year-round residents but roughly 5,200 housing units — one of the most extreme seasonal-home ratios in Massachusetts. The median home dates to about 1983, but the town's signature stock is far older: the white captains' houses and shingle-style summer homes around Edgartown Harbor and the Edgartown Village Historic District.

Cedar shingle and painted white clapboard are the dominant siding here. The historic village near North Water Street and Main Street is largely painted clapboard with white-cedar trim; the rest of the town runs to natural or stained cedar shingle on shingle-style homes, capes, and contemporaries. Vinyl is rare on visible elevations — both because of historic review and Vineyard aesthetic norms. Salt air, wind, and intense UV drive faster cladding wear than mainland towns of the same vintage.