diff --git a/lib/data_cleanup/rules.rb b/lib/data_cleanup/rules.rb
index 155b86b..a85db52 100644
--- a/lib/data_cleanup/rules.rb
+++ b/lib/data_cleanup/rules.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-require_relative "rules/base"
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+if File.exist?(Rails.root.join('lib', "data_cleanup", "rules", "base.rb"))
+  require_relative "rules/base"
+end
 
 module DataCleanup
   module Rules
diff --git a/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/data_cleanup_rule_generator.rb b/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/data_cleanup_rule_generator.rb
index 6e48031..91ca8b8 100644
--- a/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/data_cleanup_rule_generator.rb
+++ b/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/data_cleanup_rule_generator.rb
@@ -6,11 +6,19 @@
 
   # Copy the Rule template and create a new Rule file
   def add_rule_file
+    empty_directory "lib/data_cleanup/rules"
+    unless File.exist?(base_class_path)
+      template "base.rb", base_class_path
+    end
     template "rule.rb.erb", rule_path.to_s
   end
 
   private
 
+  def base_class_path
+    Rails.root.join("lib", "data_cleanup", "rules", "base.rb")
+  end
+
   # The name of the model we're fixing (e.g. 'User')
   #
   # Returns String
diff --git a/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/templates/base.rb b/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/templates/base.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30c918e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/generators/data_cleanup_rule/templates/base.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module DataCleanup
+  module Rules
+
+    # Base class for rules to clean invalid database records
+    class Base
+
+      def log(message)
+        DataCleanup.logger.info(message)
+      end
+
+      # Description of the rule and how it's fixing the data
+      def description
+        self.class.name.humanize
+      end
+
+      # Run this rule and fix data in the database.
+      def call
+        raise NotImplementedError, "Please define call() in #{self}"
+      end
+
+    end
+
+  end
+end