I have no experience with DaVinci product. They sound good from their website, but it is their website.

What do you plan for the roofing?

I don't have experience with DaVinci's siding product, but I did a roof tear off and installed their imitation slate roof. Make sure to be sitting down when you get the price if the shakes are priced like their roofing.

It's difficult to compare such different products. DaVinci Shakes are more than twice as thick as Hardie Shingles and are individually installed instead of in 4 ft panels.

What is the difference in material and installation cost?

Thanks everyone, and yes, res2architect, we are only looking at Hardie Board and Davinci for siding; we have had large sample boards from DaVinci in hand for 6 months, though only small color sample boards for the Hardie Board. It is hard to compare in part because there are not a lot of images out there showing whole-house siding with DaVinci shakes (we have asked the manufacturer for more). We are really interested in materials that require less maintenance, and therefore do not want to do real shake siding; same thinking with the roof. That, and we are at the edge of dense forested dunes and do not want the added fire risk of real cedar shakes. Mark, we are still deciding on roof. Though originally designed with a standing seam metal roof, your words of caution last August prompted us to look at other options. We have looked at samples of several roofing materials, including the DaVinci roofing products and several "metal" shingles, but probably leaning more towards higher impact-rated luxury asphalt (e.g., Certainteed Presidential IR or Belmont). Since we are considering DaVinci siding, we would not want to use a similar product on the roof for esthetic reasons. In addition, we are required to install gutters as part of our runoff water management plan (environmental regulations with the State of MI EGLE in this particular Critical Dune location) and since we will also likely use heating elements in select areas, we have been advised by our roofer (and gutter) subs that this is more challenging (though not impossible) with a metal roof. The metal roof was initially more appealing because of its ability to shed tree detritus and snow, but of course that same snow (and ice) shedding capability is another potential concern and hazard (though that can be mitigated with snow guards). That, and metal roof would be far more difficult and expensive to repair. We are still waiting on final price estimates for both Hardie Board and DaVinci siding, but expect the DaVinci siding to be substantially more. I will share those comparisons once we have numbers in hand. Thanks everyone -

The repeated use of "Hardie Board" instead Hardie product names makes it difficult to understand what is being compared. Hardie doesn't make a Hardie Board but if you mean Hardie Shingle Siding, it's only 1/4" thick like their Plank Lap Siding and the DaVinci product is 5/8" thick.

To compare Hardie with DaVinci you should consider 5/8" thick Hardie Artisan Shingle Siding although it simulates flat-sawn shingles and the DaVinci product simulates hand-split shakes so their appearances will be dramatically different.

The DaVinci product is also installed one piece at a time and the Hardie product is installed in 4 ft strips so I assume the DaVinci product would be consderably more expensive.

Thanks so much, and yes, sorry for the confusion; my bad. In my original post I referred to the product as Hardie Board shingles, and didn't realize that they went by Hardie Shingle Siding to differentiate from the lap or B&B boards. Agree with you that the DaVinci and the Hardie Shingle look very different on a house. Appreciate the heads up on the thicker 5/8" thick Hardie Artisan Shingle Siding. We were drawn to the conventional thickness straight edge, Select Cedarmill texture as opposed to the smooth shingle. I'll have to review the specs on the Artisan to see if it is also available in the Cedarmill texture. Interestingly, on their website I only see the 5/8" Artisan sold as part of the Aspyre collection and only in lap-style siding in a V Groove, Square Channel and Shiplap style; no shingle that is easy to find, anyways. I've contacted Hardie to clarify if the 5/8 shingle is still available.

I apoligize if I am late to this discussion but I was also torn between Hardie,Certainteed, and DaVinci shake shingles. Certainteed cedar blend, looks fine but involves alot of J channels and not the realistic aged cedar look I envision. DaVinci is nice, but it scratches and nicks easily. Try it with your fingernail. Company replied to my concerns by saying that you cannot see the scratches from the street and if the heat of the sun doesn’t smooth out the scratches, purchase a small propane torch and apply heat to the scratch: they even sent me a link to show how it is done. Furthermore, they claim the color is through and through and the white scratches are the UV protective coating etc at the surface. Hmm… call me cynical but that doesn’t sound right and besides if I can easily nick or scratch this while examing the sample, I shudder at the handling of the install. I am going with Hardie staggered shake.