Calculating a Percentage value of a total value in a column

Ryan M.

Hi,

Im a contractor and trying to calculate my contract fee (10%) of the total cost of the build. I have a breakdown of all the costs summed together but cant find a formula to insert in my final cell that would show exactly 10% of the total sum of all the other costs.

Thanks in advance

Genevieve P.

Hi @Ryan M.

Is the issue that your top Summary row is using a formula to SUM the entire column, which means if you add in your 10% value to that cell it will update your total incorrectly?

If so, what I would do is create the calculation in a different column/cell (such as the one to the left). You'll need to keep it out of this cost column so it doesn't affect that top row.

In the cell to the left, try something like this:

=$[Cost Column]$1 * 0.1

I can't see what your column name is, so in my example I've called it "Cost Column". You'll want to swap this out for your actual column name. Note that I used absolute references (the $ sign) to lock the formula to your top cell in that column. This means if you add rows above or below the current row it will stay locked on that top row.

I would suggest then adding in some text to the Cost Column cell on the right, like "Ten Percent, see the cell to the left".

Cheers,

Genevieve

Ryan M.

I've tired numerous mathematical equations and the only one that works is =5582403.72*.10 which gives me the correct total but doesn't reference [budget1] so it wont auto update as other cell values are changed

Genevieve P.

Hi @Ryan M.

Is the issue that your top Summary row is using a formula to SUM the entire column, which means if you add in your 10% value to that cell it will update your total incorrectly?

If so, what I would do is create the calculation in a different column/cell (such as the one to the left). You'll need to keep it out of this cost column so it doesn't affect that top row.

In the cell to the left, try something like this:

=$[Cost Column]$1 * 0.1

I can't see what your column name is, so in my example I've called it "Cost Column". You'll want to swap this out for your actual column name. Note that I used absolute references (the $ sign) to lock the formula to your top cell in that column. This means if you add rows above or below the current row it will stay locked on that top row.

I would suggest then adding in some text to the Cost Column cell on the right, like "Ten Percent, see the cell to the left".

Cheers,

Genevieve