Life-cycle cost (LCC) adds every cost you will pay over the evaluation period and brings future costs to present value. A simple checklist keeps the comparison honest:
| Cost item | FRP | Steel | Timber / concrete |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material and fabrication | Higher per metre | Lower | Varies |
| Transport and lifting | Light: lower | Heavy: higher | Heavy / bulky |
| Installation labour and equipment | Often lower (light, easy to cut) | Cranes, welding, coating on site | Varies |
| Coating and repainting | None normally | Repeated in corrosive sites | Timber: treatment/replacement |
| Inspection and repair | Low, but check connections | Corrosion inspection | Rot / spalling inspection |
| Downtime for maintenance or replacement | Rare | Can be costly (shutdowns, access) | Varies |
| End of life | Thermoset: hard to recycle; plan disposal | Recyclable | Varies |
Worked illustration (assumed numbers)
The numbers below are assumptions chosen to show the method, not Haikuo prices or measured data. Replace them with your own. Horizon 30 years, discount rate 5 %. Steel starts at 100 and is repainted every 7 years at 12; FRP starts at 135 with a yearly cleaning cost of 1; steel also carries a yearly inspection and touch-up cost of 2.
| Item | Steel | FRP |
|---|---|---|
| Initial cost | 100 | 135 |
| Present value of repainting (years 7, 14, 21, 28) | 22 | 0 |
| Present value of yearly inspection / cleaning | 31 | 15 |
| Total present value | 153 | 150 |
With these assumptions FRP costs 35 % more at the start and ends about 2 % cheaper in present value over 30 years: the two are close. Remove the repainting (a dry, mild site) and steel wins clearly; add a costly shutdown for each repaint and FRP wins clearly. That sensitivity is the real message: the answer depends on the environment and on what downtime costs you.
What to check before trusting an LCC claim
- Is the service life of each material taken from the same exposure conditions?
- Are coating and inspection costs from your own site, not generic figures?
- Does the comparison size both materials for the same stiffness (see FRP vs steel beams)?
- Is disposal or recycling included?
Related: FRP structural profiles vs steel and what drives FRP prices.
Send us your requirement
Guangdong Haikuo Composite Materials Co., Ltd. (Huizhou, Guangdong) designs pultrusion moulds in-house and produces custom FRP profiles. Send a drawing, a sample or just the application and the environment, and we will tell you what is feasible.
Email: helena@frphk.cn | Phone: +86 189 5198 8522