Admittingly, I subbed that part of the project out. We have a good siding guy that works on our houses, and he pays extreme attention to weatherproofing and details. Siding houses is one of my least favorite activities in the home building process, so I was not hesitant to have him do it.
For him, though, it was a slow and tedious process. He worked by himself (his 10 year old was with him to help when he could), but it took him over 8 weeks (6 days a week/10 hours a day) to finish the siding.
EDIT: Come to think of it, he lives in Illinois, over by Manteno. I'm not sure how close you are to that area, but if you don't feel like doing the gables, I can get you in touch with him.
