Out of Town Siding Replacement

[Eric Sammons]

Hello,

I recently purchased a property out of town. I'd like to get quotes on replacing the damaged wood siding with vinyl siding, so I reached out to a number of companies in this regard. However, the ones who have gotten back to me all said that the property owner (me) must be on-site when they come over to do the quote. At first I thought this was a sales strategy, but they told me they must do this for insurance/legal reasons. 

Has anyone encountered this before? People own out-of-town properties all the time and get work done on them; is siding replacement some weird category that requires the owner to be there to get a quote? Can anyone think of a way around this other than having to travel to the property?

Thanks for any advice you can give.