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Step inside a Kyle Burns home and time recedes. The antique doors, the hand-hewn beam overhead, the worn patina of a reclaimed floor all add up to the unmistakable feeling that this house has always been here.
Burns infuses his custom homes with character, in the shape of handmade tiles and garden elements like limestone troughs. He works closely with Green Pirogue Architectural Antiques & Design, an architectural salvage store, to bring that vision to life.
After studying construction management at LSU, Burns got hands-on experience at industrial companies in Baton Rouge, including Cajun Industries and MMR Group. But it was residential construction that called to him. He worked with the Bardwell Homes team before launching his own company, Burns Construction Group in 2025.
“I wanted to give a very intimate experience to our homeowners,” he says. “To be transparent and give the detail we want to give to each project. I hope they feel like the home isn’t a new home; that it’s been there for 100 years.”
Burns believes that vintage materials and modern design aren’t opposites. A home can have clean lines, sophisticated finishes and a contemporary layout while still feeling rooted in tradition.
That aesthetic sensibility is shaped by south Louisiana with its rich architectural identity—deep porches, French Creole bones and a climate that demands attention to waterproofing, gutters and roofs. “It requires balance to fit the building practices we know are right today while keeping the architecture everyone loves,” Burns says.
Clients are drawn to materials with a sense of permanence that age naturally, such as unlacquered metals and antique brick. Floor plans are swinging back toward defined, purposeful spaces: formal dining rooms, spacious sculleries and dedicated offices, combined with more open living areas. Burns’ custom homes range from $900,000 to $2 million.
Burns’ Parade of Homes entry in the historic Adelia neighborhood—featuring a courtyard pool, antique wall paneling and the linen cabinet ingeniously built into the shower—is a showcase of Burns’ signature synthesis of old soul and new bones.
In their own words
ORIGIN STORY
The craft that goes into a production home verses a custom home is what drew me to build custom homes. So much collaborative effort goes into it. It’s a very intimate experience for a homeowner to have their goals laid out and have a team come together to try to make that experience the best that’s possible. I grew up in a home designed by Louisiana architect A. Hays Town in the early 20th century. It was remodeled by architect Al Jones in the early 2000s. Attention to detail in that home is what drew me to this style of homebuilding and the Louisiana French Creole style of architecture.
FIRST GLANCE
Knowing you have a set of plans, and an empty blank canvas is a cool feeling. You know what you’re about to build and are making sure you have everything lined up to complete that project successfully.
HARD KNOCKS
There’s a ton of things that can go wrong and a lot of times they do. How you plan for that and move forward and through it and how you communicate to all parties involved defines you as a builder.
DREAM VS. BUDGET
Design doesn’t have to be expensive. There are a ton of ways to accomplish different goals. Presenting to a homeowner a more budget friendly way to achieve their goals doesn’t mean it will be a cheaper looking project. But knowing where to spend money is important to design. It’s much easier on the front end to work it into the budget. It allows construction to be seamless and it alleviates stress.
WILD REQUESTS
In the Adelia house we did a linen cabinet for towels inside of the shower, which is a unique feature. The waterproofing was tough. We tiled the shower and then installed the cabinet, and we used a PVC composite material to build the cabinet so it should last 100 years.
FUTURE BUILDERS MAY CRINGE AT…
Probably the lack of color in the 2010s. People are going to want to repaint.
