When you create a new template in the layout template builder, you start off with a specific default set of rows and regions (3 rows, with each one having a single 100%-width region in it):

It would be useful to present options to copy the regions/rows from existing layouts. Here's a rough mockup of how that could look like:

There may be many such presets to chose from, so they could be hidden in a fieldset instead; or the "Copy regions from existing preset" thing could be a link that opens a dialog.
If #4483 is rejected, then we could add these presets in the "Add template" step (where we ask for the name and description of the template):

Anyway, the purpose of this is to allow people to quickly get to where they need to, by allowing them to select a preset that is closer to the regions they need. They could then tweak it to get to 100%, instead of having to start from scratch.
Recent comments
The simple way is - View source code - Copy and paste what you need - Bold can be easily added with <b> or <strong> tags
Use text editors in Summary Field
I have had a read of what Lando provides, and it's an excellent development tool, and it would solve the problem. But, I would prefer to find out why the problem is there in the first...
How often is the settings.php loaded.
Thanks for the info. I will give it a try...
How often is the settings.php loaded.