diff --git a/build/common.props b/build/common.props
deleted file mode 100644
index b9ea9b3dfe..0000000000
--- a/build/common.props
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-<Project>
-    <PropertyGroup>
-        <!-- general options -->
-        <NeutralLanguage>en-US</NeutralLanguage>
-        <Company>Microsoft Corporation.</Company>
-        <Product>Microsoft .NET</Product>
-
-        <!-- create second-based build number for local builds -->
-        <_SecondBasedTimeStamp>$([System.DateTime]::UtcNow.Subtract($([System.DateTime]::Parse("2015-01-01"))).TotalSeconds.ToString())</_SecondBasedTimeStamp>
-        <_SecondBasedTimeStamp>t$([System.Int64]::Parse($(_SecondBasedTimeStamp.Substring(0, $(_SecondBasedTimeStamp.IndexOf("."))))).ToString("x9"))</_SecondBasedTimeStamp>
-
-        <!-- pack options -->
-        <PackWithoutBuildNumber Condition="'$(PackWithoutBuildNumber)'==''">false</PackWithoutBuildNumber>
-        <BuildNumber Condition="'$(BuildNumber)'==''">$(_SecondBasedTimeStamp)</BuildNumber>
-        <VersionSuffix Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)'!='' AND '$(BuildNumber)' != ''">$(VersionSuffix)-$(BuildNumber)</VersionSuffix>
-        <VersionSuffix Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)'==''">$(BuildNumber)</VersionSuffix>
-
-        <PackageId>$(MSBuildProjectName)</PackageId>
-        <Authors>Microsoft</Authors>
-        <Copyright>© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.</Copyright>
-        <RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/aspnet/DotNetTools</RepositoryUrl>
-        <RepositoryType>git</RepositoryType>
-        <ProjectUrl>https://asp.net</ProjectUrl>
-        <RequireLicenseAcceptance>true</RequireLicenseAcceptance>
-
-        <!-- build options -->
-        <WarningsAsErrors>true</WarningsAsErrors>
-        <AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)Key.snk</AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile>
-        <SignAssembly>true</SignAssembly>
-        <PublicSign Condition="'$(OS)' != 'Windows_NT'">true</PublicSign>
-    </PropertyGroup>
-
-    <PropertyGroup Condition="$(PackWithoutBuildNumber) AND '$(VersionPrefix)' != ''">
-        <PackageVersion>$(VersionPrefix)</PackageVersion>
-        <PackageVersion Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)' != ''">$(PackageVersion)-$(VersionSuffix)-final</PackageVersion>
-    </PropertyGroup>
-
-    <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
-        <!-- pack options -->
-        <Serviceable>true</Serviceable>
-    </PropertyGroup>
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dir.props b/dir.props
index 72afbf262e..3f3183bc8c 100644
--- a/dir.props
+++ b/dir.props
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 <Project>
-
   <Import Project="version.props" />
-  <Import Project="build\common.props" />
+  <Import Project=".build\common.props" Condition="Exists('.build\common.props')"/>
+
+  <Target Name="EnsureInitialized" BeforeTargets="Build" Condition="!Exists('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\.build\common.props')">
+    <Error File="$(MSBuildProjectFile)"
+           Text="Project has not been initialized. Run 'build initialize' in the solution directory '$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)'" />
+  </Target>
+
+  <Import Project="tools\sign.props" />
 </Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/dir.props b/src/dir.props
index 97aeb4d360..b2d16c9fad 100644
--- a/src/dir.props
+++ b/src/dir.props
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 <Project>
   <Import Project="..\dir.props" />
   <PropertyGroup>
+    <!-- overrides default which is assembly name -->
+    <PackageId>$(MSBuildProjectName)</PackageId>
     <PackageType>DotnetCliTool</PackageType>
   </PropertyGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
diff --git a/build/Key.snk b/tools/Key.snk
similarity index 100%
rename from build/Key.snk
rename to tools/Key.snk
diff --git a/tools/sign.props b/tools/sign.props
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54132d388a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/sign.props
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<Project>
+    <PropertyGroup>
+        <AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)Key.snk</AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile>
+        <SignAssembly>true</SignAssembly>
+        <PublicSign Condition="'$(OS)' != 'Windows_NT'">true</PublicSign>
+    </PropertyGroup>
+</Project>
\ No newline at end of file