I 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.
Review of Grand Designs
