Despite the common belief, 
working with steel fiber reinforced 
concrete in most cases isn’t more 
expensive than using traditional 
reinforcement.
It is true that rebar per unit weight 
is indeed less expensive 
than steel fibers but, 
in order to make a correct price 
comparison,
one has to consider the total 
cost of ownership (TCO).
This means that the total cost 
of the solution
must be taken into account
and not just the cost of the material 
per unit weight.
In doing a price comparison, indeed,
we should consider the amount
of material (steel and concrete) to 
meet the design requirements,
involved such as the construction time.
the labor cost to apply the reinforcement
and all the other factors
involved such as the construction time.
For what concerns the amount of 
material, often a steel fiber reinforced  
concrete solution requires less steel 
and concrete to build, 
resulting in a consequential saving.
In addition, for what concerns 
the cost of labor,
steel fiber reinforced concrete is easier 
and quicker to apply 
cutting the cost of construction and 
ensuring a faster return on investment.
Therefor a total cost of ownership (TCO) 
analysis should be done
on a case by case basis and is mostly 
favorable for the use of steel fibers.
