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
Hi Kevin I am interested assisting you developing a theme by cloning feature from existing WordPress website. Please let me know your suitable time to discuss further...
Create a theme from existing website
I've updated the Zulip link in both places I found it. No need to post again, unless you have something new to say. We'll pull together feedback from all the sources.
Backdrop CMS Core Priorities
Should we post here again, what we posted over there? Or would that unnecessarily duplicate things? The link to a Zulip thread in this initial post leads to an internal one, but there's...
Backdrop CMS Core Priorities