A Spreadsheet Primer

Many contractors who use spreadsheets are doing more work than they have to simply because they don’t understand how to make the spreadsheet do the work for them. In this article, I’ll show you a handful of simple techniques that will take the mystery out of using multiple worksheets and building formulas. You can skip over anything that seems too basic, but I’m betting that even experienced users will discover something new. The sample spreadsheet used here is designed to help you plan tool and equipment purchases, and to compare actual expenses to budgeted costs. But the setup procedures and formulas will work in spreadsheets that perform basic accounting, estimating, job costing, and many other common