2008-02-20 McCloud is TOO enthusiastic

As an architect, and a die-hard modernist, I often find the TV show Grand Designs infuriating. Clients either fire their architects early on and have no concept of how to a) design, b) cost-manage or c) run projects on-site, thus build fairly horrendous homes.
There are a few rare gems but more often than not the projects go way over budget and clients decisions are simply baffling. If there is ONE message to anyone thinking of building their own home, be it a chic 2-bed mews or a grand country home...PLEASE PLEASE look at architectural books, see how good architects do things and then decide on what you want.
Find an enthusiastic architect with prior experience and trust them to design a good home.
McCloud often waxes lyrical about fairly mediocre designs, which bugs me. These designs often do not deserve the attention they are given, and a good architect will avoid the high drama that Grand Designs depends upon to make it interesting.