🏗️ 1build - Plaid for construction cost data

TL;DR: 1build is launching the API for construction pricing data. Developers can use our API to access up-to-date information on construction costs for workflows like construction estimating, procurement, and loan/insurance underwriting. The API can be either queried with GraphQL or easily integrated into any application with one line of HTML.

📚 Backstory

As wild as it sounds, the construction industry still uses actual books that are published once a year to track construction market pricing. I previously ran the data science team at CloudKitchens where I needed an API for tracking live construction pricing data--but instead of an API I had to deal with these cost books.

📊 Problem

Construction costs have been extremely volatile over the last several years. For example, lumber prices skyrocketed 400% and then crashed in 2021. At the same time, the construction tech space is booming ($5B+ is invested annually), but it still lacks its own "Plaid" for mission-critical market pricing data.

🛠️ Our solution

1build has an easy-to-use API as well as a JavaScript embed widget that gives you access to live pricing data on 68 million construction materials, labor, and equipment anywhere in the US.

🚀 How it works

You can either use our GraphQL API (docs) or JavaScript embed widget (docs) to integrate construction pricing data into your application. Sign up here to get your API key.

Here are just some of the use cases for our data:

• Your contractor sent you an estimate and you want to validate their quote vs market rates.
• You're serving bank underwriters who need to check whether their client's construction loan application has an accurate budget.
• You're working with insurance brokers who need to approve a quote for home repairs.

Features

⚫ Search or browse our catalog of 68 million construction items and assemblies localized to your project. Include labor to get all-in installation costs.

⚫ Add this line of HTML in your app to embed our construction pricing catalog:

⚫ Or query our API with GraphQL:

👷 Asks

Try 1build now! Get your API keys or contact us to embed live construction data into your application or ML model.

We are hoping to discover new use cases and applications for our data, so don't hesitate to reach if you want to bounce around a few ideas.

We are also looking for feedback on the API / JS widget's ease of use, so let us know about your experience with our docs/integration.