The business of building materials is transforming rapidly. Rising material costs, volatile demand, and increasing regulatory compliance have become the norm. Pricing leaders in the distribution and manufacturing space know these challenges all too well. Every day, they juggle fluctuating costs, customer expectations, and the need to manage margins under pressure — all while delivering value to the market.
The good news? These challenges can be solved. With the right tools and strategies, businesses can build resilient pricing models that adapt to market shifts while protecting profitability.
Living materials — which include self-healing concrete, mycelium-based bricks, and bio-based plastics — are just one of the innovations reshaping the construction industry. These products offer sustainability and innovation, yet they also come with pricing complexity. How do you accurately convey their value in a competitive landscape? How do you develop pricing models that protect margins without alienating cost-sensitive buyers?
Deloitte’s 2024 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook highlights a continued push for digital acceleration and resilient practices — trends that mirror the adoption curve of Agentic AI in B2B.
To fully realize the potential of living materials, companies must embrace new ways of pricing, selling, and delivering these advanced solutions. The future is here, and just as AI has redefined how businesses operate, living materials are set to redefine how we build.
Top Challenges Unpacked
The building materials sector used to rely on static price lists and manual discounting, but today’s environment demands more. Consider this snapshot of the current landscape:
Material cost volatility
Supply chain disruptions and raw material price fluctuations have added complexity to even the simplest of products. Exploding Topics reported record highs in steel and lumber costs in the past three years.
Dynamic customer expectations
Customers demand consistent pricing across all sales channels — whether via distributor, web portal, or direct sales teams. But managing parity is challenging and often leads to inefficiencies.
Regulatory pressures
Sustainability is no longer optional — it’s an imperative. New regulations require transparency around environmental impact, driving the need for precision in pricing and compliance tracking.
Eroding margins
Intense competition between suppliers has made it difficult for pricing leaders to protect margins. Uncontrolled discounting is common but dangerous, leaving businesses vulnerable to profit leakage.
These factors make it clear that pricing leaders are navigating through unprecedented complexity. But complexity doesn’t have to be a barrier — it can be an opportunity for transformation.
The PROS Approach to Smarter Pricing
At its core, effective pricing management is about three things — precision, agility, and transparency. PROS equips pricing leaders with AI-powered tools to deliver on all three. With solutions like Smart Price Optimization and Management (POM) and Smart Configure Price Quote (CPQ), PROS enables companies to:
1. Protect Margins with Dynamic Pricing
Static price lists can’t keep up with today’s shifting costs. With PROS Smart POM, you can calculate prices dynamically — factoring in real-time changes in material costs, demand, and competitor strategies. This helps you capture opportunities before they evaporate and prevents unnecessary discounting that cuts into profitability.
2. Stay Competitive with Account-Specific Pricing
Whether you’re negotiating large-scale infrastructure bids or small distributor orders, consistency is key. PROS CPQ ensures that every quote reflects both market conditions and your business goals. This level of precision builds trust, preserves pricing integrity, and speeds up the sales cycle.
3. Shift from Cost-Plus to Value-Based Pricing
Many manufacturing and distribution companies struggle to accurately price high-value, sustainable products like self-healing concrete. By using PROS AI-driven analytics, you can clearly demonstrate the total cost of ownership (TCO) advantages these products bring, justifying premium pricing.
4. Meet Regulatory Expectations Seamlessly
With environmental regulations tightening, pricing leaders need transparent systems to capture compliance costs while maintaining competitive pricing. PROS tools automatically track and audit pricing adjustments — giving you the agility to adapt to new guidelines without disrupting cash flow.
How PROS Smart CPQ Transformed Lapeyre’s Multichannel Sales Strategy and Customer Experience
Before PROS
Lapeyre, a leading do-it-yourself home improvement retailer, faced significant challenges in managing its diverse product catalog, which included both standard and customizable items. The existing system was time-consuming and prone to errors, making it difficult to provide a seamless customer experience. Additionally, shifting consumer purchasing trends highlighted the need for a dynamic sales strategy to capture greater market share and increase revenue. However, the lack of data connectivity within their sales processes hindered their ability to fully implement a multichannel approach.
With PROS
To address these challenges, Lapeyre implemented PROS Smart Configure Price Quote (CPQ) for eCommerce. The solution empowered their sales networks by streamlining processes and enhancing customer service. Salespeople, secondary retailers, and customers gained the ability to browse the catalog, customize products, check pricing, and place orders online with ease, saving valuable time. PROS Smart CPQ also ensured seamless data transfer from the point of sale to manufacturing, significantly reducing costly errors in production.
Results
The introduction of PROS Smart CPQ delivered measurable improvements across key areas:
- Reduced revenue leakage: Enhanced order accuracy minimized errors in customized products.
- Increased sales: Simplified ordering processes and improved access to product information boosted the growth of custom product sales.
- Better customer experience: Accurate pricing and a consistent, market-driven buying experience across channels strengthened customer satisfaction.
- Faster turnaround: Automation streamlined production cycles, resulting in quicker delivery times.
By leveraging PROS Smart CPQ, Lapeyre not only optimized its sales strategy but also enhanced its ability to meet evolving customer needs, driving growth and efficiency across its operations.
Why Now is the Time to Act
The building materials market is evolving rapidly. Those that wait to modernize pricing practices risk falling behind more agile competitors. Deloitte’s report on Engineering and Construction confirms that digital transformation is now a requirement, not an option, for maintaining resilience and competitiveness.
With PROS, you’re not just keeping up — you’re staying ahead.
Optimize Today for Tomorrow’s Success
- Turn confusion into clarity with AI-driven price guidance
- Evolve from manual processes to agile, automated workflows
- Keep margins strong while delivering better customer experiences
The world of building materials is alive — with innovation, complexity, and opportunities. With PROS solutions, you can master the complexity, boost profitability, and build stronger relationships with your customers — one price, one quote, one contract at a time.
