A Pocket Jig That Puts Every Siding Screw Hole in the Same Spot

The Problem

Exposed fasteners on siding are architecture — every screw shows, and a hole drilled a half inch high or off the batten's centerline reads as a wobble in a line the eye follows across the whole wall. Measuring and marking each hole individually is slow, and the small errors still creep in.

The Technique

This builder carries the layout in a jig instead of a tape:

1. Make a small jig — his is a simple triangular block — shaped to fit around the vertical batten it fastens into, with a drill hole (or notch) at the fastener's exact offset.
2. With the siding piece held in place, drop the jig over the batten so it registers against the batten's sides and rests on the top edge of the siding course.
3. Drill through the jig's hole. The bit lands at the same height above the course and the same centerline on the batten, every time.
4. Slide to the next batten, repeat. Layout is now a physical object — the jig can't misread a tape.

Registering off two references at once — the batten for left-right, the course for up-down — is what kills both directions of drift in one move.