House cladding materials and buyer preferences

[Cocolatte24]

Mumsnetters I need your help in settling a debate between my DH and I.

We have pre-existing wooden cladding on our iconoclastic that’s currently falling off the house on one side and there are signs of wear on the front. We intend to move in the next 9-12 months - market allowing etc and unfortunately can’t just remove the cladding as the part underneath it is a mix of breeze blocks and odd bricks.

DH is insistent (read bloody minded) that we must replace it with James Hardie cement board cladding.. going on and on about the colour fast guarantee and look of it etc. all at a grand cost of £8.5-10k.

I’m not convinced we’ll get that investment back in the sale price. He thinks that others will value a cement board over an alternative material I.e. UPVC

AIBU in thinking that most people wouldn’t be widely aware of cement board vs other materials, let alone value it? AIBU in thinking that people wouldn’t pay more for the house based on the cladding material?

im not averse to replacing it but for something that’s all bells and whistles?!

Any thoughts or experiences?

I think people will like Upvc more because they know what it is and how to look after it.

I wouldn't buy with up upvc cladding and I'm unfamiliar with cement board. I would (did) buy if it had wooden cladding or render, with price adjusted for any necessary replacement. But there's good odds I'm not your target audience too.

As a buyer, my thoughts would be:
uPVC/composite - cheap and ugly.
Wood - a lot of maintenance and doomed to grey/silver pretty quickly, although looks lovely when new.
Tile hung - acceptable.
Render (not a cladding, but an option - bit of a pain needing to repaint every so often, but should last. Also acceptable.
Cement board cladding - had to google, but I'd assume it was a plastic composite from the picture. Even to people this appeals to, I can't imagine how on earth it would add £10k to the house value.

I googled it too. It reminds me of the stuff they are having to peel off tower blocks because of the fire risk.

Maybe it works on a very modern style house but definitely not something I'd find desirable. I'd look to replace with tiles.

I've used Hardie planks and can attest they are fairly indestructible and look great.
I think it will make your house more sellable rather than increase the value much, though having poor boards may decrease the value, if you understand what I mean.