# Business Model and Pricing

## Revenue Model

The project is best suited to a B2B SaaS subscription model. Estates subscribe monthly based on their resident or unit count, with optional paid services for onboarding, custom integrations, training, and premium support.

Primary revenue streams:

- monthly estate subscriptions
- annual prepaid contracts
- setup and onboarding fees
- custom enterprise pricing
- paid integrations
- premium support and training
- optional SMS or notification usage pass-through

## Current Subscription Plans

| Plan | Estate Size | Monthly Price | Best Fit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | 0-100 residents or units | NGN 200,000 | Small estates and pilot communities |
| Growth | 101-300 residents or units | NGN 500,000 | Medium estates with active visitor traffic |
| Enterprise | 300+ residents or units | Custom | Large estates, multi-gate properties, and property groups |

## Suggested Package Positioning

### Starter

For small estates that need to replace paper visitor logs and improve basic access control.

Included:

- estate admin account
- resident management
- guard management
- visitor records
- visitor passes
- QR and manual check-in
- checkout
- incidents
- basic audit logs

### Growth

For established estates with multiple guards, higher visitor volume, and stronger reporting needs.

Included:

- everything in Starter
- offline sync
- notification workflows
- role feature settings
- richer dashboard/reporting views
- priority onboarding

### Enterprise

For large estates, property managers, and organizations with custom requirements.

Included:

- everything in Growth
- custom pricing
- multi-gate operating model
- advanced support agreement
- custom integration review
- dedicated rollout planning
- optional branded experience

## Optional Add-Ons

Potential add-ons:

- SMS/WhatsApp notification bundle
- custom payment provider or bank transfer workflow
- dedicated onboarding and resident import
- premium support SLA
- guard device provisioning
- custom reports
- API integration support
- white-label branding

## Billing Lifecycle

The implemented backend supports this commercial flow:

1. Estate admin submits signup.
2. Estate is created with `PENDING` status.
3. Signup waits for super-admin review.
4. Super admin approves, suspends, or rejects the signup.
5. Approved estate admin selects a subscription plan and payment provider.
6. Estate admin initializes hosted checkout or records manual payment.
7. Super admin confirms payment.
8. Estate becomes `ACTIVE`.
9. Estate admin account becomes active.
10. Normal app access begins.

## Payment Providers

Current supported provider enum:

- Flutterwave
- Monnify
- Paystack
- Stripe

Recommended positioning:

| Use Case | Recommended Providers |
| --- | --- |
| Nigeria card/bank payments | Flutterwave, Monnify |
| Backup local payments | Paystack |
| International or diaspora payments | Stripe, Flutterwave |
| Luxury or enterprise estates | Stripe, Paystack, Flutterwave |

## Commercial Guardrails

Recommended commercial policies:

- Require payment confirmation before estate activation.
- Keep Enterprise pricing custom until usage, support, and integration costs are clear.
- Treat notification costs as pass-through or bundled with fair-use limits.
- Require annual contracts for complex enterprise onboarding.
- Offer pilots only with clear start/end dates and success criteria.
- Avoid enabling unpaid estates beyond a controlled demo environment.

## Suggested Contract Terms

Include these terms in future customer agreements:

- plan name and resident/unit limit
- monthly or annual price
- payment provider and billing cycle
- setup fee, if any
- number of supported gates/devices
- support hours and escalation process
- data retention policy
- suspension rules for non-payment
- customer responsibilities for resident data accuracy
- privacy and acceptable use commitments

## Pricing Questions To Resolve

- Does unit count or resident count drive billing?
- Are guards and residents unlimited within a plan?
- Are SMS/WhatsApp costs bundled or charged separately?
- Is there a setup fee for importing residents?
- Are multi-gate estates included in Growth or only Enterprise?
- Is annual prepayment discounted?
- What happens when an estate grows past its plan size?