Base Files

As I've said before, in my previous post, I only have one template file for all my bases. However, some projects require much more than a simple survey base and design base. For the more complex projects, I split certain data out and into separate files.
In the Bases folder, I have sub-folders for each Civil 3D object type. The most used object, by far, is the Surface. In almost every project, I have to create an Existing Surface, and a Proposed Surface.
Some projects require Pipe Networks, and some require Alignments. I almost never use View Frames, as I prefer to set up views manually.

I have had projects where we have gone through several iterations of a design, and I usually end up with a series of Design files with numbers after them. By the time I get to 10, I can't keep them straight anymore.

When I start with a project, I always need a survey to work from. Typically, surveyors are very CAD-illiterate. Some drawings are cleaner, and easier to work with, and I've had survey files with everything drawn on random layers, and the linetype/lineweight/plot style changed to match the layer it should have been on.

Almost always, I end up having to sort through a surveyors file and select objects of one type (a fence line, for instance), and convert all its properties to defaults, then change it to layer 0 and copy with base point then paste it into a fresh, new, clean file I've saved as my Survey base. This process can be tedious, but it is the most reliable method to get a clean drawing that meets my CAD Standards.
Once I have all the surveyors line work transferred, then I import his points file and stylize the points to match my standards. This is also tedious, as each surveyor has his own way of labeling his shots, and I just haven't created a Description set to automatically do this for me for some of our less used surveyors. I even have a surveyor who takes one shot for up to five different things and labels each one in the description.
I also create sewer and storm lines using Pipe Networks, which I create Data Shortcuts of for future references. This way, I have access to the pipe with flow lines when I am designing future utilities.

Once I have all this data complete, I make a copy of this file and generate an existing surface from the elevation data. If the surveyor provided contours, I will usually use them, but often they are cut up because they trimmed the line work instead of masking the text.

Design bases are just the same. I create all my line work and layout the project as I want it, then I create a proposed surface file that just copies the design base.