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Ask HN: I'm in Construction industry, building an API. How should I price This?

8 points by dhruvkar ↗ HN
I work in the construction (specifically natural stone) industry and am working on an API for the names, colors, & origination of different types of granite and marble. Having no experience in this - what sorts of pricing strategies have been successful? What hasn't worked? I want this to be available for whoever needs it, since nothing like this exists (that I can find) but don't want to keep paying out of pocket either.

12 comments

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smt88
Who are the customers? How much time/money will you save them?
dhruvkar
So far, just us, internally. Going through the comments, I realize there's more talking-to-customers that needs to be done.
SixSigma
To me, as a construction buyer, it sounds like how I would choose one supplier over another rather than something I would specifically pay for.

That said, I don't spend hours chasing down specific granites so that might be value alone to others.

Have you discussed pricing with potential customers? They are in the best position to suggest the price.

dhruvkar
I have not, and I probably should. The intent is to externalize something we use internally, so there is a market for at least 1.
oranson
How much are similar websites offering? What is your competition's (or similar) price?

You said no one else is doing it, but where ever you got the idea from, how much are they charging?

dhruvkar
I got the idea from all the other APIs I use (e.g. AWS, Clearbit, etc.) which are not anywhere near this industry.

We have our own, constantly-updating stone database, so the line of thinking was that we'd just externalize that.

saluki
How much value are you providing/time savings.

I expect you could have a few plans starting out at $99, $249 and $499.

Tiers by users/api calls, etc.

Construction industry software typically seems to command a premium price so maybe more that my off the cuff numbers.

Pricing is more art than science, how much will companies pay you based on their time savings/value of using the api is the answer. Also you ran roll out initial introductory pricing and then change based on what the response/signups are.

dhruvkar
True, perhaps starting off with a free offering, and then see how and IF it's being used.
lsiebert
Free offerings make people devalue what they get. Better to make it cost $99 or something but make it easy to get a free trial.
brudgers
Based on my experience in the US construction industry, I haven't seen many people paying for specialized API's. In the vast majority of cases, availability and price are often at least as important as aesthetics.

It's hard to see who the customers would be. Using an API requires an atypical level of technical expertise. Contractors have their suppliers. Suppliers have their inventory. Architects? well maybe since specifying high priced unavailable materials is not unknown...but their business is the least likely to make money by spending money on an API.

In general, money in construction changes hands when construction happens or materials are sold. Monetizing information about stone is perhaps more likely the more it is directly tied to such transactions.

Good luck.

dhruvkar
I agree.

>> In general, money in construction changes hands when construction happens or materials are sold. Monetizing information about stone is perhaps more likely the more it is directly tied to such transactions.

This is useful, and hadn't thought about it like that. Tying it to specific stones (as there is a lot of variation even in the same lines), and to the sale.

This is not something that I've seen a market for, but every natural stone company has its own internal database. We have one, and this is a effort to make it accessible.

Thanks.

brudgers
Turn the data into eBay auctions?