Jim consulted with me several times on my gut renovation project and provided expert advice. He…read morebrings expertise from two decades of experience to the table, and also his work is of impeccable quality. I saw a passive house he was gut renovating in Park Slope, and it was absolutely stunning! Jim knows how to preserve historic details while bringing the design into the modern era in a tasteful, classic way. He exudes calmness and wisdom and is a pleasure to be around. Full disclosure in that I ultimately had to choose a less experienced architect because Jim's fee, although completely reasonable given his level of skill and expertise, was a bit out of our price range.

Jim was great to work with. We did a semi-gut renovation in 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apt. The quality…read moreof his work and suggestions were exactly what we wanted based on my husband and my feedback. Jim is very detailed and each week during renovation, we had him manage the project with the contractor to ensure the final output was done properly. Most Manhattan apartments are not symmetrical, so the early stage on doing things a certain way goes a long way on the final look. He understands plumbing, and electrical well to communicate to our contractors. He referred us to a HVAC engineer. When it came to interior design, we had Sarah who provided feedback and suppliers information. She was also very helpful. Jim knows the DOB process well and helped us resolved many issues even during covid and DOB rule changed in 2020 and 2021. We also had him manage the project with the contractors. The contractors don't have the same design eyes and were a bit sloppy and forgetful so it was imperative to have Jim help us. Urban charges by the hour and provided an accurate estimate of the cost. Make sure what projects he's working on so he can allocate time properly. In the beginning with the design drawing schematic, it took a while cause he was on a couple of brownstone projects but overall still have a very positive experience with Jim. He was responsive.

Terrible. Unprofessional, Took $13,000 from us and hardly did anything for the money…read more Always bitched that he needed more money. Needless to say he was fired ....

Good with people, good with design, and good with construction management. Also very experienced in…read moreall aspects of architectural design

Bill evaluated my home and did a complete review of things I need to do. He saved me big chunk of…read moremoney and headaches. I'll definitely retain Bill for ongoing projects!

I did a deck with John Santos about 10 years ago - the deck is about 500 square feet- now 10 years…read morelater for a fabulous deck on a historic Roslyn building it is completely rotted out ( underneath - roof totally leaking and rotted)and he is saying he cannot stand behind such an "old" deck! So the work done may look good today but does not stand the test of time and he is completely absolving himself and his sub contractor from the problem/ I would not recommend using him -t Two other reputable contractors in Roslyn say inferior materials were used with poor pitching- I even offered for him to do it again and I would pay his costs and he says he is not responsible after 10 years for a deck that leaks. Good luck to you if you use them ! Check your guarantee!

From the owner: Island Contracting has been a trusted premier general contractor for Long Island's North Shore Gold…read moreCoast communities since 1994. We specialize in kitchen and bathroom remodeling, home additions, major renovations, historic home restorations, commercial contracting, and more. With exceptional craftsmanship and unmatched expertise, we bring your vision to life with precision and care.

Steve helped me to get a 19-year old outstanding DOB permit approved for an apartment in a landmark…read morebuilding. This wasn't a creative project for an architect. Actually I am sure it was very painful to deal with all the red tapes. During those 4 months, he even contacted me in the after hours to give me the progress. Thank you.

My answer to your response is - I guess you never worked with an expeditor. I never asked you to…read morepull permits yourself. ---------- Where do I begin? This architect is disgustingly unprofessional and more importantly, a bad person. He was 15 minutes late to our meeting, walked in while I was speaking to his co workers, Jasmine and Dong, and was completely dismissive about the entire meeting. When I started to ask him about the next steps to move forward, like how to pull permits and the pricing for the design, he completely FLIPPED out telling me why would he pull permits when that's the contractor's job? I was a bit taken aback since my previous architect pulled permits alongside my contractor. He then started to allege that I use unlicensed contractors. I started to wonder what he was getting at and why he was being such a rude jerk. He then had the nerve to pull out the BIS gov website and ask me about the contractor I used and the address. When I tried to tell him the architect firm, he got very angry and said why would I care about the architect? HELLO! You asked who pulled the permits! He found my previous project and everything was up to code. This guy is disgusting. There is NP way he's a legit architect because he doesn't have any skills on how to speak to clients. Stay away. You can find architects who pull permits alongside the contractors. This means he has very bad relationships with the DOB.

I worked with Raffaella Bertucci on a nail salon expansion project, and she was excellent to work…read morewith. She handled all architectural drawings and ensured everything was on point. Raffaella was responsive, collaborative, and proactive, even handling the necessary legalization work. Due to her great performance, we also hired her for another project involving a new office warehouse. I highly recommend her for any architectural needs!

Tons of expertise and style to boot! Also, my project for a whole new house was approved by the…read moreBuilding Department in a week.

Amy Green is the most creative, detailed, innovative, sustainable and passionate architect I know…read more Amy Green has worked on a huge variety of projects and gives the same expert attention and priority to every single one. As a licensed architect with years of experience she is incredibly knowledgeable and is not just passionate about design, but even more so about improving the lives of the people she is designing for. I recommend her 110%!

We've been working with Amy for quite some time on our (nearly) gut renovation of our apartment,…read moreand couldn't be happier. This was a fairly large project - redoing 3 bathrooms, the floors and moving a wall. The highest praise I can give is that we continue to recommend her to all of our friends doing renovations, and she'll be the one we go to for our next project. Nearing the end of our current project, we've seen her in many different parts of the process and have been impressed by each one. At a high level, Amy delivers high quality work and communicates quickly and effectively. At the start was design and development - where we are painting our vision for our project and Amy is turning it into actual designs and hardwood/tile samples. We started with inspiration photos, and then from there went to actual material selection. When choosing materials Amy was great at presenting 3 options, while always being willing to go back to find more when we didn't quite like them (which I think only happened a couple of times). For this phase, I think the best thing we did was find clear inspiration photos that she turned into actual things. Main recommendation is to pay attention to the stuff that you might not normally - where will the fire alarms go? How high are the fans? Where are the outlets, and where are the switches? One great thing Amy did here was show a lot of cost awareness and advised us on where to splurge and where to save. One thing that did surprise us here was the cost of millwork - it was generally much more than we anticipated (expect about $1000 per linear foot), so definitely factor that into your budget. When it came time to choosing a contractor, she streamlined that whole process as well, providing a few recommendations and arranging interviews. With the contractor we selected, she handled our contract negotiation expertly. For this phase of the project, my big recommendation is to make sure that everyone is clear on the timeline, and that part of the contract includes shared responsibility of any fees your building might charge for going over a deadline. Likewise, include requirements around ordering materials before the kick-off of the project, if you have the space to store them. This will greatly help streamline things. During construction, she primarily worked with the contractors directly to prepare orders and answer their questions about the schematics. The answers were always in the schematics, which showed an enormous attention to detail that I'm frankly envious of. Our project got a little bit off of track due to ordering delays (hence - order before you start), and she was the one that got it back on track by getting us and the contractors in a room to make sure that all of the orders were there. Finally, for adaptability there was the design side - one piece of millwork came in significantly more expensive than we expected ($15k for doors!) and very quickly she came up with a significantly more affordable option that I think is going to look just as good. You should hire her!