When planning a project space, initial installation costs are in focus. But using data from practical experience, larger organisations may want to include long term costings for the products and materials proposed for projects. Life cycle costing is utilised for many industries that rely on dependable infrastructure or key componentry. It is calculating for reliability or maintenance routines to provide long term performance. The purpose of this data is almost always used to project and potentially minimise cost over time and can thus provide a greater return on investments.
Life Cycle Costing for Street Furniture
Life cycle costing can be applied to street furniture too. Considering the harsh conditions the majority of street furniture will go through in its lifetime, life cycle costing may be an important consideration when choosing the furniture or even the materials for a project.
This becomes more important when rolling out larger projects. Municipalities and park or forest management organisations can benefit greatly from carrying out a study such as this. The process starts by learning and acquiring data from existing furniture that has been in service. You should be able to source most costs to start calculating results.
Life cycle costing is about looking beyond the simple initial cost comparisons and taking into account the long-term cost assessments associated with maintenance or replacement.
How is life cycle costing calculated?
Once the street furniture has reached its end of use and has been scrapped or recycled, all costs can be used to calculate life cycle costing. Data can be left out however, like if the furniture is still in use and has not reached its end of life. Disposal/scrapping data may be irrelevant. The complete calculation for street furniture looks like this:
Life-cycle costing =
capital cost + lifetime maintenance/replacement costs + disposal costs – residual value
To provide an example, the City of Melbourne has undertaken a life cycle costing comparison study over a 25-year term for furniture in use across the city. The relevant comparison is between 2 materials: carbon steel and stainless steel.
The study included:
- 1700 bins
- 800 seats
- 400 benches
- 80 drink fountains
Procurement costs for the products made in both materials were used, plus the ongoing maintenance costs including products that were:
- Destroyed while in service
- Repaired and returned to service whether damaged or natural wear and tear
The study revealed a saving of $6.2 million using stainless steel furniture over carbon steel furniture. So while there was an initially high capital cost in using stainless steel furniture, carbon steel furniture cost more to maintain, and within 10 years had closed the cost gap and eventually exceeded the cost of using stainless steel furniture.
This was an expected outcome given the reliability of stainless steel in street furniture construction. Of all materials that street furniture is commonly made from, stainless steel is unmatched in material performance and requires the least ongoing maintenance. Over a 25 year period, stainless steel will perform better than all materials when comparing life cycle costs.
It is clear as to the reason City of Melbourne now specify the majority of their street furniture is made from stainless steel. Their life cycle cost study highlights the practical reliability of stainless steel in street furniture construction.
So how about other materials?
Other materials do perform considerably different depending on the climate and conditions they are installed in. If you have pre-existing street furniture there should be enough data to perform a life cycle cost analysis. However, if you are wanting to upgrade your furniture using other materials, look to other installations in your area. Comparative materials would likely already be installed in the vicinity of the project and they would be the best source of data to use for these purposes.
You can assess these materials for yourself. How long has the material been there? Has the material been maintained, or was it left to weather over time? Is the material near its replacement time, or does it simply require maintenance to extend its life? What would it cost to maintain, repair or replace?
Combine quote costs, estimated yearly maintenance/repair costs, and your best estimation of service life expectancy based on materials assessments in your vicinity for an inciteful look into life cycle costing for your project. Change materials in the calculations for performance comparisons.
Life cycle costing provides incite in many ways. A useful tool for larger organisations and larger rollouts of furniture in public space. The City of Melbourne used it to validate their switch to stainless steel furniture, but it can be adapted to your purposes as well.