Your contractors are walking past multi-family jobs every day. Here’s how to change that.
How Big Is the Multi-Family Fiber Cement Opportunity Right Now?
Multi-family construction is one of the biggest opportunities in the Midwest right now. And for most contractors, it’s sitting right in their backyard. Apartment complexes, senior living communities, and multi-family developments are going up on what used to be empty lots. The exterior siding on those buildings represents a significant opportunity for every dealer in the region.
Here’s what it takes to make sure your contractors are on those jobs and what BPI and James Hardie can do to help you get them there.
The Multi-Family Market Is Bigger Than Most Contractors Realize
James Hardie holds the lion’s share of the multi-family fiber-cement siding market. That means when a multi-family project goes up in your market, there’s an overwhelming chance the spec calls for Hardie. The contractor who wins that work and the dealer who supplies them are capturing a category that outperforms most single-family jobs in both volume and margin.
A single development can represent more material than a contractor installs in months of single-family work. And because James Hardie’s multi-family program locks pricing for up to 15 months, the contractors who learn to work in this space can build a pipeline of predictable, high-volume work.
The dealers who are winning in multi-family aren’t waiting for their contractors to figure this out on their own. They’re having the conversation first.
How to Help a Contractor Win Their First Multi-Family Job
For contractors who have spent their careers on single-family work, multi-family can feel like a different world. Bigger projects, more players, stricter timelines, and procurement processes they’ve never navigated before.
That’s where a knowledgeable dealer makes all the difference.
With BPI and James Hardie behind you, you can walk a first-time multi-family contractor through the entire process, from getting a quote to managing deliveries to finishing the job. The learning curve that might otherwise keep a contractor from pursuing these projects disappears when they have a dealer who knows the program and can guide them through it.
The contractor who lands their first multi-family job with your help is a contractor who comes back to you for every multi-family job after that.
Why Should Contractors Switch from LP or Vinyl to James Hardie on Multi-Family Jobs?
Some of your best contractors are already working on multi-family projects, but just not with James Hardie.
For contractors currently specifying LP or vinyl on multi-family jobs, the conversation starts with product. Fiber cement outperforms vinyl on durability, fire resistance, and long-term maintenance costs. It holds color longer, handles Midwest weather better, and carries a Class A fire rating that’s becoming a more frequent requirement as codes tighten across the region.
Against LP, the expanded James Hardie Statement Collection is now a stronger competitive story than it’s ever been. Trim colors have grown from 5 to 10, black has been added across all substrates, and stucco panel is now a standard offering. This means Hardie can match or exceed the color and substrate flexibility that LP contractors have relied on.
The price story is compelling, too. Multi-family quotes for Hardie come in competitively, and with direct-to-jobsite truckload delivery and a 15-month price lock, the program is built to make the switch as smooth as possible.
How Does the James Hardie Multi-Family Program Work for Contractors?
For contractors who already like Hardie but haven’t tapped into the multi-family program, this is the easiest conversation of all.
They already trust the product. What they need is someone to show them how the program works: how to get a quote, how the pricing lock protects their bid, how direct delivery simplifies their logistics, and how BPI handles the heavy lifting so they can stay focused on installation.
This is a contractor who’s one conversation away from becoming one of your most valuable multi-family accounts.
How Dealers Can Start More Multi-Family Conversations with Their Contractors
The next time one of your contractors mentions they drove past a new development going up across town, that’s your moment. Ask them if they know who’s doing the exterior. Ask them if they’ve ever bid on a multi-family job and whether they’d like to.
The multi-family market isn’t waiting. The projects are going up whether your contractors are on them or not. The dealers who are growing their multi-family business right now are the ones having these conversations consistently with every contractor who has the capacity and the hunger to take on something bigger.
BPI is ready to help you have that conversation. Talk to your BPI rep today, and let’s figure out which of your contractors is ready to make the move into multi-family.
FAQs
Q: What is James Hardie’s market share in the multi-family fiber cement siding market?
A: James Hardie holds the lion’s share of the multi-family fiber cement siding market. That means on the vast majority of multi-family projects — apartment complexes, senior living communities, and similar developments — the spec already calls for Hardie.
Q: How long does James Hardie lock pricing on multi-family projects?
A: James Hardie’s multi-family program locks pricing for up to 15 months. This allows contractors to submit competitive bids with confidence, knowing their material costs won’t shift before the job is complete.
Q: What advantages does fiber cement have over vinyl or LP siding on multi-family projects?
A: Fiber cement outperforms vinyl on durability, fire resistance, and long-term maintenance costs. It holds color longer, handles varied weather conditions better, and carries a Class A fire rating that is increasingly required as building codes tighten. Compared to LP, the James Hardie Statement Collection now offers 10 trim colors, black across all substrates, and stucco panel as a standard option — giving contractors comparable or greater design flexibility.
