What's about all those people thinking they could be project coordinators in their spare time? Or they don't need an architect?
Of course, the show wouldn't be as interesting without it, but the same old same old budget problem is getting a little annoying.
First they want to build their dream home as big and pompous as possible But all of them have wrong budget expectations. Then they want it built in months during the worst possible snow and rain storms. And in the end they magically have enough money for it, but it took 4 years instead of 2.
I love seeing new ides for houses, learn more about architecture and building problems, but I don't need the personal drama in each episode. Will they have enough money? Will the weather get better? Will they finally move in? That gets a little boring. The architecture itself should be the focus. And the building site.
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I've now seen at least thirty individual episodes, and this show is the best of a huge lot of home building shows that are available. There have been at least two water tower adaptations, an early 20thC fantasy castle brought into practical living space while the owner learns how to live with the architectural drawing process, a colourful Spanish luxury home and French historic building conversion built by Brits abroad, and a community co- op housing project built by a group of low-income participants to guarantee them secure rental housing for their young families. The value of seeing this wide range of people and projects is huge - you can see how dreams are realized, the number of concessions and adaptations that must be made along the way, the long-term result when projects are revisited ten years later, and, my favourite, become acquainted with new green building materials and techniques. 1960's building designer Walter Segal's methods led me to an Irish architect Dominic Stevens, who uses inexpensive sheet materials in their original sizes to reduce labour costs. The materials he specifies are only recently available in North America, so this television program has enabled me to specify materials for my architect to investigate and incorporate. The fact that this program has been useful and educational as well as entertaining is a bonus I hadn't anticipated - I'm very glad to have discovered this show. Thanks, Kevin McCloud, for a comprehensive, thoughtful presentation of quality material.
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techpress16 June 2018Another homebuilding series focusing strictly on the objects of design and nothing about the people who invest and labor on it? These home projects are carefully curated process tracks, spanning years. They're about real people and most with limited funds. Without their dramatic stakes revealed in each episode, you have but a nice glossy Architectural Record on TV. I couldn't watch it. Space without people interacting with it is meaningless to a lot of us!
And here they're not all brutalist modern/ Scandinavian plank designs-- although my personal taste runs to that look-- where walls and furniture provide their own function yet can be a tabula rasa for bespoke decoration, if any! No, many of the episodes I've seen reveal some way-out structures that would show up in National Geographic - don't want to give anything away here-- but it doesn't get much more diverse. These process shows are a real eyeful, with a perfect balance of visioned people, old and new tech, and the built environment.
If Kevin and crew shows up for a USA tour and are looking for a good editor-- sign me up! I live for this stuff. That's how I feel about this distinctive series.
Thanks to Netflix for the four seasons I've binged thus far-- I realize this series goes back 20 years. -
Incalculacable8 January 2006'Grand Designs' is a very good program in which it follows people building their dream houses and all the dilemmas that come with it. I must admit a lot of the designs are very modern, quite impractical - definitely not my cup of tea, but it's a great show but I wonder why anyone would want to live in that sort of house. Just my opinion. That's why it's nice to see people's creative sides work, see what other people like, see people's dreams unfold before your eyes. The presenter is very good - he actually writes it himself, which is definitely a credit to him! All in all, a great show, very entertaining!
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vovazg21 March 2020My wife and me are enjoying so much this series as it has everything. Kevin is really great in knowledge, presentation, energy, witty humor and communication. The houses are amazing on so many levels, educational and a joy to watch. It's atmosphere, soft music background and the original content every episode brings makes it so entertaining and inspiring to watch. Well done!
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paulcreeden5 March 2017I enjoy this series on Netflix. Probably wouldn't watch it with commercial interruptions. It slogs a bit with needless repetitions and filler monologues by McCloud, who is poetic but verbose. The episodes should have been 30 minutes. My father built our family home on an urban lot just outside Boston in the 1950's. When I say he built it, I mean just that: He built it by himself in his 'spare time'. I was turned off by the toff attitudes of some of the homeowners in this show. I also researched and found at least one of them flipped a house a year after the show. On the show, those owners acted so committed to the house and neighborhood. They inconvenienced 17 abutters to build over several years. They also devoured an urban green space to build the concrete monstrosity. Fascinating TV on the one hand, but environmentally irresponsible on the other. It's strength is its technical points about building. The gooey interviews with the owners could be edited out.
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k-945381 October 2018It's a tv show about building your own home in the UK and Ireland. It shows the up and downs and difficulties involved in a self build. Reviews here on IMDB are pretentious to say the least. Over aliasing every aspect of it it's a diy show for mid week tv pre prime time. And just to say one last thing. 18 years it running. Season 18. So it's doing something right.
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bevo-1367831 March 2020I like the bit where the house takes a lot longer to build than they thought it would and cost heaps more money
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abdis-8003917 June 2022Kevin mc cloud is genius and so good to listen he explain and follows up perfectly.
Grand design becomes a good show with him.
One of my best number one shows ever... -
In this series, homeowner-builders frequently take old industrial buildings, dairies, barns, water towers etc. and incorporate or rebuild these structures into a new home. I like the idea that what is old can be made new again. I am very interested in the concept of conserving a well designed building made to last and reusing it, instead of discarding the labour, materials and design. As someone who hates to see buildings, that have stood the test of time, shipped off to a landfill, I am truly inspired by these grand designs that conserves and respects the past. Not only is that a worthwhile endeavour but it shows a perseverance that requires contractors to do things in ways that might never have seemed possible. Where I live, houses are demolished routinely to make way for gigantic infills that are out of scale in the neighbourhood. Small houses are the ones that get the axe when most of them could be fixed up or improved upon without removing the whole house with the bricks, woodwork and craftsmanship that have graced a street for 80 to 100 years. Often the new builds in this series are grandiose and very expensive but they build upon the existing design and materials. Also, I have to admire how people can envision a modern home using the bones of an old building whether it is a schoolhouse or country church. None of the self builds in the series is ever abandoned or do owners ever regret the final product, which is always a triumph. For that reason, I expect these people are carefully selected and coached through to the successful conclusion. Whatever the case, the program is driven by the hopes and dreams of owners and not an industry that encourages cookie cutter designs that lack imagination, do not respect the past and are not environmentally responsible.
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Ronmeister678 November 2022A great idea; watching people bring their dream homes to life, building what they pondered over and worked for, often all of their lives. Watching every stage of a building; from architectural planning to execution. What a dream series that would be... The reality is different. It turns out to be a systematic production with a strict time line. Meeting excited people who wish to build something that they can just about (not) afford. Their approach is new, they wish to be in by Christmas and there's no way they can go beyond their budget.
Then reality sets in; their unique approach doesn't work, it costs more than they budgeted for, but somehow find the additions 100's of 1000's of pounds... amazing!
Not much of the actual building process is shown, the emphasis is on how the (unrealistic) dream unravels. We see stressed out people who, had they ever watched so much as one episode of the program they are a part of, should have known they are not unique, nor smarter than any of their predecessors.
So, what could have been a program about design, building techniques, sustainability, creativity and the endurance of the human race becomes a mini drama that can scarcely be believed. It may once have been what I had hoped for, it is no longer... too bad. -
wworonick24 May 2020I started watching this show on Netflix and they have only two seasons so I went hunting elsewhere for more. I found it on IMDB. I think Kevin McCloud is a fantastic host who is funny, witty and asks honest questions to the home owner/builder about budget, timeline and if they achieved what they hoped. I looked at some of the other reviews on this show on IMDB and I was surprised with people writing that the show focuses on expensive homes (true), people building homes without concern for their neighbors needs or building like neighborhood architecture (true). What I get out of this show is inspiration on maybe building my own modest home some day 1200 - 1500 square feet and incorporating some interesting building materials, window ideas, roof lines or exterior cladding. It gives me some ideas on what to expect for timelines on building your own home and realistic budgets. Some of the episodes shows homes are simply stunning, and I want to find ways to make my home (if I ever build my own) look high end with materials that do not cost much.
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william-eugensson29 August 2021Watch this if you want to learn about house building.
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spencesa29 September 2021This episode involves demolishing an existing house, building a vast barnlike new-build for a family with 2 children and, to cap it all, building a pretentious and unplanned tennis court. Rampant middle-class self-indulgence, yes, climate sensitive modest innovation, most definitely not. Why film it?
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winnyrussell1 September 2021The new Grand Designs was such a disappointment tonight. £££££££ but no taste or environmental protection. I hate these silly people who ruin habitats and don't care about the local area. Sod off you lot. Rich idiots are unfashionable.
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beach_vacation26 June 2020Recently discovered this show on Netflix where there were only Seasons 10 & 15 available. Had to pick up two other Seasons here on IMDB! They showcase some of the most ambitious endeavors of people trying to build or restore their dream homes. Host Kevin McCloud checks in with each project injecting his own brand of sardonic but realistic humor. The hook is watching to see if the home owner/s achieve their "dream home" goals while managing tight budgets, contractors, and their sanity.
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jmljml-9776217 August 2018Love the houses and ideas but is it just me or is the host just kinda negative??? Would be better if he left his opinions out of it
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dotd547117 February 2020Decent until the host talks. He completely destroys any enjoyment this show has to offer. Arrogant and horribly negative.
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lyndarobertson-4963330 April 2017While the buildings are often awesome, the degree of waste, stupidity, poor planning, fiscal boondoggling, and general horrific decision making, make this show a black comedy.
Worse, to treat these egotistical, financially retarded, and foolish people as heroes.
Nice reviews by those involved with the show, though. -
redhawkwale2 February 2021Some of the designs are quite nice, however the show actively discussed "fighting the system" to destroy historic structures and build homes on ancient archeological sites. It's absolutely unacceptable even if it involves just a small percentage of episodes
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mlbroberts5 February 2020I've been watching Season 10 on Netflix. Amazing egos on display here, people building houses too large and out of character with the neighbors around them and not giving one tinker's dam about it. Usually over budget, grand ideas that are difficult to work. Nice when it actually gets built sometimes (like the Lesbian ladies with no neighbors to be in your face with), but really, a tribute to excess and arrogance of people.
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r-a-1968837 January 2024It's fine as like background or filler content but it's not exaclty a work of art. Just a TV show where people renovate houses. You might get out of it some interesting ideas or something but at the end of the day there isn't much to be said about it. The host is good at his job which is fine. It's one of the better reality TV shows which I guess makes it just perfectly fine because reality TV shows aren't very good in general. Contrast with a different reality TV show show: Mystery Diners, a show about solving issues in restaurants, where they bring in an episode with a pyschic medium for no reason because they think a restaurant is haunted. At least (as far as I'm aware) Grand Designs don't pull any weird stunts so the show has some standards.
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martinbarrett-725434 May 2022Absolutely disgraceful to film the construction of this property without intervention on health and safety. Lifting roof panels and frame beams without proper fall arrest or scaffolding was ridiculous. It is a rule in construction to stop someone working in a dangerous manner immediately. The design was rubbish too, having a whopping void above the ground floor that would have no function but wasting heat.
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oldtimate4 May 2020The earlier series dealt more with normal people with normal aspirations and incomes, who took on interesting projects such as restorations of interesting abandoned buildings or realistic and relevant new builds. The budgets were small and the outcomes pleasant, reasonable and timely. Then, at some stage, the series went into 'green' overload where all buildings had to be environmentally friendly and carbon neutral. Mostly involving couples with more money than sense. Like so many reality shows, they start off with good intentions, then lose the plot. But then the show keeps popping up so someone must be watching. I don't have any issue with Kevin McCloud who (to me), gives the impression of being quite normal and reasonable. He must surely cringe when dealing with some couple's fantasies. I've given 4 out of 10 as I admit to watching latest episodes when desperate.