Burke, Virginia · Design-Build
Your house is probably a Colonial or a split-level built between the mid-seventies and the early nineties. The kitchen has a wall between it and the family room that shouldn't be there. The primary bath has a jetted tub nobody's used in years. Your basement is unfinished, half-finished, or finished twenty years ago in a way that doesn't quite work anymore. That's what we do here.
Burke, VA Overview
Overview
Your house here is probably a Colonial, a split-level, a ranch, or a townhome that went up between the mid-seventies and the early nineties. Whichever one it is, we've worked in one shaped like it. The kitchen you want opened up, the primary bath you want redone, the basement you want finally finished — we've done that project.
What homeowners are asking for
The wall between the kitchen and the family room taken down. The unused 1990s jetted tub swapped for a walk-in tile shower. Unfinished basements finally finished, often with a walkout to the yard or Burke Lake. And, more and more, a home office wired for real remote work built into whichever room can hold it.
The finishes
Quartz counters, shaker or inset cabinetry in painted white, greige, or navy. White oak hardwood, refinished or new. Nine-foot kitchen islands, a number our Burke clients keep asking for by name. Radiant floor heating in the primary bath. And behind the walls: an electrical panel upgrade for the modern appliance package, HVAC re-zoned so the second floor stops running warmer than the first.
Neighborhoods
Burke is a patchwork of mid-density planned subdivisions, mature-tree canopy, and pockets that back to Burke Lake. These are where we've done the most work.
Also working in Lake Braddock, Signal Hill, Longwood Knolls, and Kings Park. If your association isn't on the list, we've likely still worked with it. Ask when you call.
Six Services in Burke
Burke homeowners tend to stay, which changes the shape of what they remodel. These are the six projects our Burke clients bundle into a single contract, or return for one at a time across the years they live in the same house.
Nearly every Burke kitchen remodel comes back to the same wall: the one between the kitchen and the family room. Taking it down is structural work, not cosmetic, and it's what turns a 1980s galley into the open-plan kitchen with a nine-foot island Burke families keep asking for by name.
See the kitchen page
The Burke master bath is often the same story: a Colonial built between 1988 and 1993, a jetted tub nobody uses, a single-sink oak vanity for two adults, and subfloor rot under the shower that shows up the day we open it. Every one gets rebuilt to the same standard: walk-in tile shower, exhaust vented outside, double vanity.
See the bathroom page
Most Burke basements were built to be finished later and never were. Full ceiling heights, poured concrete walls, sometimes a plumbing rough-in stubbed for a future bathroom. Some walk out to the yard. A few walk out to Burke Lake. What we add on top: a real home office, an egress window for a legal bedroom, and moisture management before the drywall goes up.
See the basement page
Burke whole-home projects tend to bundle: kitchen gut, one or two bathrooms, basement finished, a wall or two opened. Burke is a stay-in-place city, so these are forever-home projects, not staging renovations before a sale. Ten years of that pattern is why we know the 1980s NV Homes and Ryan Homes floor plans before we walk in the door.
See the whole-home page
Burke's 1970s and 80s houses often already have a rear deck or a three-season porch that no one uses in December. Converting those into year-round sunrooms is the most requested addition here. Second-story builds, primary suite additions, and rear bump-outs come next. The rear structures on most Burke lots give every addition an honest starting point.
See the additions page
Most of our Burke commercial work happens along the Burke Centre Parkway corridor and the surrounding office and retail parks. If your building is 1970s to 90s vintage, expect aging HVAC, panels sized for smaller loads, and restrooms that need ADA updates. Design-build under one roof, phased around your hours so nothing shuts down that doesn't have to.
See the commercial pageWhat You'll Want to Know
Five things every Burke homeowner asks about early. The Fairfax County permit path. Which HOA gets involved (usually Burke Centre). Why there's no historic overlay affecting your house. What a 1988 Colonial actually looks like under the drywall. And how much to hold back for the aluminum wiring, the subfloor rot, and the exhaust fan that's been venting into the attic since 1990.
Burke is unincorporated Fairfax County, same as Centreville. Every remodel here runs through Fairfax County's building department. Plan review for a home project usually takes two to six weeks. One office, one path, one set of inspectors. We pull the permits, book the inspections, and hand you the paperwork at the end.
Burke Centre HOA is the biggest one and runs an active architectural review committee for exterior work. Similar committees operate across the other planned subdivisions. HOA approval comes before the county permit, and interior-only work usually falls outside HOA scope. We put together the submission, work through the meeting cycle, and file with the county after.
Fairfax County has fifteen historic overlay districts, but none of them cover Burke's residential neighborhoods. Whatever you're planning on the exterior, standard county permits apply. No extra design-review step, no added wait time.
Your house is probably a Colonial, a split-level, or a ranch built between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. Whichever it is, we've been inside dozens like it, from Burke Centre to Kings Park West to Cherry Run. The kitchens, bathrooms, HVAC, and electrical panels in those homes are now 35 to 45 years old, right on the natural remodel timeline.
For pre-1990 Burke homes we build a 15–20% contingency into every proposal. Aluminum branch wiring in some 1980s houses, subfloor rot under aging shower systems, and exhaust fans vented into the wrong place are patterns we've seen enough times to plan for, not treat as surprises. Every proposal names the figure up front so nothing sneaks up on you.
Ten Years, 350+ Homes
Ten years and more than three hundred and fifty homes across Fairfax and Prince William counties. When we walk into a Burke Colonial from the late eighties for the first time, we already know the floor plan, the mechanicals, and the wall you're going to want opened before we get past the entryway.
Inspiration Board
Six rooms Burke families keep asking us to rebuild. Burke is a stay-in-place city, so most of these projects come from someone who's lived in the same house for years and finally decided to fix the thing they've been walking past every morning. Photos are real GiGi work from around Northern Virginia. Categories come from Burke contracts specifically.
Common in Burke
Taking down the wall between the kitchen and the family room. The nine-foot island our Burke clients keep asking for by name is where most of these projects finish.
Common in Burke
Removing the 1988–1993 Colonial's jetted tub, building a walk-in tile shower in its place, and finally venting the exhaust fan outside. Subfloor rot under the old shower gets fixed on the way through.
Common in Burke
Home offices wired for real remote work, egress windows for a legal bedroom, and moisture management before the drywall goes up. Some walk out to the yard. A few walk out to Burke Lake.
Common in Burke
Turning an existing rear deck or three-season porch into a real four-season sunroom: HVAC-tied-in, low-E glass, and the mini-split that makes it usable in January and July.
Common in Burke
Kitchen gut, one or two bathrooms, basement finished, a wall or two opened. The coordinated bundle Burke families take on when they're staying, which they usually are.
Common in Burke
Primary suite additions, first-floor guest suites, in-law setups with a private entrance. The stay-put answer to the space-versus-move calculation.
Verified Google Reviews
4.9 out of 5 · 90+ reviews
The finished kitchen matters. So does everything before it: the months we spend in someone’s home, the questions we answer at nine at night, the calls we return the same day. These are the words of people who lived that with us. The experience is the work.
Burke FAQ
HOA approvals, the historic-overlay question, aluminum wiring, the thirty-percent rule. Straight answers, no marketing dodges.
For exterior work, yes, and typically in that order. Burke Centre HOA and the other subdivision review committees weigh in before the county permit for anything visible from the street. Interior work usually falls outside their scope. We put the submission together, wait for the meeting cycle, and file with the county after.
No. Fairfax County has fifteen historic overlay districts, but none cover Burke's residential neighborhoods. Whatever you're doing on the exterior, standard county permits apply. No extra design-review step, no added wait time.
For pre-1990 Burke homes we build a 15–20% contingency into every proposal. Aluminum branch wiring in some 1980s houses, subfloor rot under aging shower systems, and exhaust fans vented into the wrong place are common enough patterns that we plan for them, not around them. Every proposal names the figure so nothing sneaks up on you.
Some Burke homes from the late seventies and early eighties have aluminum branch wiring. It's not a project blocker, but it changes the electrical scope: we address it before the drywall goes back up, either by replacing runs or by properly connecting to copper at each device. If your house has it, we tell you in the proposal, not on demo day.
The rule of thumb Burke homeowners bring up is not to sink more than roughly thirty percent of your home's value into a single renovation. In a $700K market that's a real number. A $150K remodel that returns 70–80% on resale is different from a $300K remodel in the same house. We're honest about where a scope crosses that line, and we scope down if it does.
Kitchens run three to six months from design sign-off through final inspection, with custom cabinet lead times the biggest driver. Bathrooms run seven to twelve weeks. Basements run six to twelve weeks. Whole-home renovations run seven to twelve months, sometimes longer for structural work or additions. Every proposal names the actual dates.
Let's build together
Tell us about your project. Alex or a lead designer will follow up within one business day to schedule a walk-through of your space. First conversation is free.