Whole Life Cost (WLC) is the total cost of goods, works or services over their entire life. They include design costs, acquisition costs, operating costs and the cost of disposal.

For goods, the WLC is the total of what it costs to buy the goods now, to own and use them over their life time, and then to dispose of them at the end of their life.

For works, the WLC is the total of what it costs to commission the works now, to manage them, use the resulting facility, de-commission the facility at the end of its use and to dispose of any resulting waste.

For services, the WLC is what it costs to buy services now, the on-going costs of receiving the service and any cost of discontinuing the service.