Hey, @zgordon ! 
I developed WPGulp (I think it’s the most popular gulp utility for WordPress). Take a look and use it. BrowserSync works just fine with local and WPGulp.
I’m also about to release a Webpack boilerplate to help people get started, but I am trying to not make it a stale start kit but a versioned updated utility.
And BTW we’ve been working towards an extra-ordinary new build from scratch. Which will be cached for better results, ES6 Support, and a lot more. Take a look → 
WPGulp 2.0 Goals + Call for Contributors! #61. Feel free to join in.
Let me know of you have any questions. 