topic Re: Expression: budget price per unit × quantity in Project data & BIM

Expression: budget price per unit × quantity

MartheK — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:51:14 GMT

HEY!

I want to work only with schedules in Archicad without having to export them to Excel. I need to be able to read the budget price for a piece of furniture and see what the total cost will be for all "office chairs" (budget price per unit × quantity).

I would like to create an Expression that can multiply the total quantity by the budget price directly in the schedules. However, I cannot find quantity in the Expression Editor.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a formula?

Operating system used: Windows

Re: Expression: budget price per unit × quantity

Ricardo Lopez — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 21:48:56 GMT

Hi @MartheK

I am not really sure it can be done as an expression, but you can:

Create a new Schedule for Elements. Name it.
Choose (at least) a criteria: Element Type is Object.
Add the fields: Library Part Name, Quantity and Purchase Price.
Mark Library Part Name as group (little flag icon).
Mark Purchase Price to be summarized (S).
Mark Merge Items style.
Optionaly you can add labels for totals if needed just clicking on the corresponding cell.

Re: Expression: budget price per unit × quantity

MartheK — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:23:37 GMT

Hey ! @Ricardo Lopez Thank you very much! I have figured out this method as well, but if the total cost had appeared in a separate column, my form would have been more similar to the supplier's Excel spreadsheet.

I didn't know I could create my own labels, so thank you very much!

Re: Expression: budget price per unit × quantity

Laszlo Nagy — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:09:44 GMT

There is a trick you can use to schedule total cost of merged items in schedules.

It is based on the fact that the values of Properties with the "Number" Data Type are not summed in the generated schedule when items are merged, while the values of Properties with the "Length" Data Type are summed.

So, you can create a new Expression-base Property called "Total Cost", and it expression will be

Purchase Price * 1 m (you multiple the Purchase Price by 1 meter, which will preserve the value while also converting a "Number" Data Type to a "Length" Data Type.)

Then, when this Total Cost Property is scheduled it will display the total cost of the merged items.

The only drawback is that if you SUM the Total Cost field in the Schedule, both Total and Grand Total rows will be displayed. Unfortunately, it is not possible to display only a Grand Total row and no Total rows, so you will have this redundancy if you use this method.

Re: Expression: budget price per unit × quantity

Laszlo Nagy — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:18:08 GMT

One additional thing:

You need to click the little settings button in one of the Total/Grand Total fields and uncheck the "Show unit" checkboxes, otherwise m for meter will be shown in these fields, since the Total Cost Property is of "Length" Data Type.