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.

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.

Reuben Gross is a wonderful architect. He designed a two floor addition to our home, provided…read morecountless recommendations for vendors and contractors, and helped us through the whole process to completion. Highly recommend.

I am a custom home builder and worked with many architects in the last 20 years. Reuben is always…read moremy #1 choice to work with for all kinds of projects because of the following reasons: 1. Plan details: We usually don't see many details on the plans with other architects as much as Reuben got them. This is super helpful to understand well the scope of work and reduced the number of loopholes for the majority of General Contractors/Builders to take advantage of and come up with multiple change orders during the execution and make the journey a very bumpy road. 2. Timelines: He is great on the timeline and a man of words. Don't see many architects following the time commitment. 3. Instantly available for Help Whenever we got any questions during execution, he get back to us right away which makes our guys work non-stop. 4. Understanding homeowner requirements: He understand very well the priorities of homeowners before the starting plans and most of the time hit more than 80% of them at the first draft. 5. Architectural design with practicality: He got great architectural skills and most importantly also takes care of practicality in the layout which has a huge benefit to the homeowner. We have seen many cases for other architects that the closet door is hitting the bed later. Of course, these kinds of problems are not visible/prominent until construction is complete and all furniture is set up in the house. I highly recommend Reuben Gross and that's gonna save tons of time & money down the road. Hasnain Nasar

I am a real estate broker and have referred Victoria to many of my clients whether it be small or…read morelarge scale work. They have all come back to me very happy with her service and work. She is extremely talented and I will continue to refer her!

Victoria drafted plans for a complete apartment renovation. She worked with the board and managing…read moreagent to get all of the alterations approved.