Do people actually make brand guidelines from scratch… even when getting paid a ton???

So, a client’s paying us a ridiculous amount to create their brand guidelines, and now I’m sitting here wondering… am I really supposed to make this entire thing from scratch?

Like, do designers actually handcraft every section, or is everyone secretly using some $10 Canva template and faking it? Because I’ve been manually aligning text boxes in Figma for an hour, and it feels like a joke.

We’ve got their assets, but:

• Every template we find is either ugly or costs $300. Where are the good ones??
• And why do I need a whole page explaining why blue “conveys trust”? No one’s reading that.

For what they’re paying, this should be automated. Someone, please share your shortcuts before I lose my mind.