What a Template Really Is
A template is simply a regular proposal that you build once and label clearly — for example, naming it "Template Proposal 1" — so you can find and reuse it later. Projects and proposals are structured almost identically, so the same approach works for either.
Setting Up the Template
Start by creating a proposal and giving it a name that clearly marks it as a template. For the client, you can create a placeholder client (for example, one named "Template") rather than assigning a real one — you'll swap this out later.
From there, build out the pieces you want to reuse:
Billing Rates — bring in your standard roles and rates.
Phases — set up your typical phases with $0 fees. The fees will come from the actual project later; the template just needs the phase structure.
Consultants — add the subconsultants you typically use. You don't need any consultants in a template, but including your regulars saves setup time on every new proposal.
Team — optionally link your team members if you tend to staff projects the same way.
Scope of Services / Project Scope — write default language you can edit per project, along with any tags or custom fields you use regularly.
Setting Phase Percentages
The most important part of the template is entering a percentage for each phase, based on your billing rate roles. These percentages are what let you fill in budgeted hours quickly on every new proposal you create from the template — you won't need to rebuild this breakdown each time.
You can optionally enter placeholder hours (for example, 100 hours per phase) while setting this up, just to confirm the percentages land where you expect. Once you're satisfied, those placeholder hours can be zeroed out or left in — either way, the percentages are what carry forward, and the template will work correctly.
Save and close the template when you're done. From this point on, you won't edit it directly — you'll duplicate it each time you start a new proposal.
Creating a New Proposal from the Template
To create a new proposal from your template:
Select New > Duplicate Proposal.
If your template doesn't appear in the list, check All Proposals — the default view may only show open proposals.
Select your template and give the new proposal its own name.
The duplicate carries over your billing rates, phases, percentages, scope language, and any consultants or team members you included.
From here, update the proposal for the actual job:
Select the real client (not the template placeholder), and refresh billing info so invoices route to the correct email.
Add any project-specific tags or custom fields.
Edit the scope of services for this specific engagement.
Distributing Fees
With your phases and percentages already in place, go to the Phases tab and enter your gross fee, then select Update Fee Amount. The fee distributes across phases automatically based on your saved percentages.
Repeat this for each consultant: open the consultant's fee, enter the amount, and distribute.
Important: don't click into a consultant's fee field and click out without entering a value — doing so will zero out that consultant's percentages. If this happens, cancel out without saving, reopen the fee, and re-enter your percentages before distributing again.
Once all fees are distributed, return to the Phases tab to confirm your net fee, total consultant fees, and gross fee for the project.
Budgeting Hours from the Template
This is where the template setup pays off. Go to the Budget tab and select Calculate Hours. Choose a blended billing rate to use, and choose to redistribute hours based on the weighted, currently allocated roles.
BaseBuilders will:
Redistribute hours across phases and roles based on your saved percentages.
Calculate a billing value for each phase using those hours and role rates.
Show you the difference between your net fee and the total billing value — an early read on projected profit or overage.
If a phase is showing a billing value higher than its share of the net fee, you can reduce the hours assigned to that phase. Edit the hours directly, then use the recalculate arrow to update that phase's billing value and delta. You can go back and forth between phases, tightening hours here and there until the project's total billing value comes in under the net fee — meaning the extra room becomes profit.
Alternatively, instead of editing each phase individually, you can reduce your total budgeted hours at the top level and select Redistribute. This spreads the reduction evenly across phases using your saved percentages, rather than requiring you to adjust each phase by hand.
Best Practice
Put the real effort into the template once — accurate phase percentages, your standard billing rates, and your regular consultants and scope language. Every proposal you create from it afterward becomes a matter of selecting the client, entering the fee, and distributing — with your hours budget nearly built for you.
Summary
Build a template proposal with billing rates, phases (percentages set, fees at $0), consultants, and default scope language. Duplicate the template for each new proposal, assign the real client, and distribute your gross fee and consultant fees. On the Budget tab, use Calculate Hours with a blended rate to redistribute budgeted hours based on your saved percentages, then fine-tune phase hours — or reduce and redistribute total hours — to bring your billing value in under your net fee.