The correct answer is A . Initial cost is the acquisition, construction, production, or installation expenditure incurred at the start of the alternative’s life. SAVE’s dictionary defines initial cost as the initial expenditure of resources to develop, acquire, produce, or construct a project, product, or process, and notes that it is interchangeable with capital cost.
Here, the calculation is direct:
1,000 square meters × $30 per square meter = $30,000.
The maintenance costs, shampooing cost, service life, and vinyl data are not needed for this specific question because it asks only for the initial cost of carpet , not the life-cycle cost. Options B, C, and D incorrectly include additional amounts or appear to mix operating/maintenance costs with initial cost. In CVS-style questions, the trap is often to include irrelevant life-cycle data. A disciplined evaluator first identifies the cost category being requested: initial cost, recurrent annual cost, single expenditure, salvage value, present worth, annualized cost, or total life-cycle cost.
References/topics: Evaluation Phase; Initial Cost; Life-Cycle Cost Analysis.