Do you get paid to be on Grand Designs? - Grand Designs Magazine
Kevin McCloud stands in front of a Grand Designs build

Do you get paid to be on Grand Designs?

Showing off your house is one thing, but is there a cash reward for appearing on TV’s greatest building show?

By Staff Writer |

Grand Designs is the best show about house building and renovation, with those appearing on it getting a chance to show off their projects and do things differently from the norm.

While getting on the show is a reward, do you get paid to be on Grand Designs?

Do you get paid to be on Grand Designs?

While many makeover shows will either pay the people who enter or provide work and materials, Grand Designs is different. This show is all about people building their own dream home or extension, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds (or more).

Part of the reason that the show is successful is because it’s real people working on real projects, where they can go over budget.

Chesil Cliff House, for example, was featured on Grand Designs back in 2019, but it suffered from delays and setbacks. It was finally completed and put up for sale in July 2022.

However, it is said that home builders are paid to have workmen down tools while filming is going on so that Kevin McCloud can walk around the site without it being too hectic or loud. That’s more of a case of deferring a build during filming, as opposed to earning money.

Outside the steam-bent timber house from Grand Designs

Grand Designs exposure is worth a lot

It’s not really the money that matters but the exposure. Having a house on Grand Designs can be beneficial to the homeowners in many ways. Some people that have appeared on the show have been keen to let suppliers know about it, hoping to strike a better deal.

Then, there’s the exposure from a completed build, with Grand Design houses becoming quite famous. There’s a lucrative trade in Grand Design houses that you can stay in.

Of course, many people decide to sell their properties. The Chesil Cliff House went on sale for £10 million, while Tom Raffield’s steam bent wooden house in Cornwall went on sale for a cool £1.65-million.


Fan of the show? Check out every house from Grand Designs season 24 or the Grand Designs houses for sale (and sold).

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