Landscaping & Outdoor Living on Johns Island, SC
Local & Family-Run
Johns Island Landscaping, Designed to Look Like It Belongs
Cramers Landscaping is a family company. Doug Cramer has worked in landscaping his whole life, with more than 30 years of experience, and his son Zach is our licensed residential builder. Doug and Zach design every project themselves, and our own crew builds it.
We work across Johns Island and the rest of the Charleston area: planting, pergolas, bluestone walkways, hardscaping and irrigation. The garden below is one we built on James Island, and it is the kind of thing that suits a wooded Johns Island lot.
Woodland Planting, Lowcountry Style
On our James Island woodland garden the client wanted the feel of a Lowcountry woodland garden, and every choice followed from that. The same thinking suits the wooded lots on Johns Island.
You enter through a pergola built from pressure-treated lumber and stained. From there, bluestone walkways lead through the planting: mondo grass as ground cover, Japanese maples, ferns and tractor seat plant.
The Lowcountry sits where the temperate south and the subtropics overlap, so a garden here can hold a Japanese maple, a palm and a live oak without looking like a mistake. We space everything for its mature size and use ground cover to keep weeds out.
A garden like this is mostly plants, and on a large property the landscaping is not the cheap part. A full design and installation can cost as much as the hardscape beside it.
Building on Johns Island
Johns Island is known for its live oaks, and they are protected. Parts of the island fall under the City of Charleston and the rest under Charleston County, and both protect grand trees of 24 inches or more in diameter. A driveway, a patio or a pavilion has to be planned around them, and the local authority has the final say.
Lots here are often larger and more wooded than in town, which suits a natural style: planting that belongs in the Lowcountry, stone walkways, and pine straw rather than a formal bed. Larger lots also mean longer runs. Gas, water and electrical to an outdoor kitchen cost more the farther it sits from the house, and irrigation is priced by the zone.
New construction is common on the island. Builder packages are the cheapest planting and the smallest slab that satisfies the contract, so it is the best time to plan the whole yard at once, starting with grading and sod.
Johns Island Rules and Neighborhoods
Most of Johns Island is unincorporated Charleston County. The County protects grand trees of 24 inches or more, and its rules keep paving, fill and footings back from the trunk: no closer than three times the tree’s diameter without a board’s approval, and no more than a quarter of the protected area paved. On a wooded lot that decides where a patio, a driveway or a structure can go.
Some communities add their own review. Kiawah River has its own architectural review board and design guidelines, and its style is Lowcountry coastal: board-and-batten, metal roofs, deep porches and homes designed around the oaks. A landscape there should do the same, with planting that belongs and paving that stays out of the way of the trees. It is a separate board from Kiawah Island’s.
Rules as published when we checked in 2026. Guidelines change, and the board or town always has the final say, so we confirm the current rules for your property before a design is final.
Drainage on Johns Island
Drainage problems on Johns Island are the same ones we see across the Lowcountry, but on the islands and closer to the coast the damage tends to be worse. The grade is usually the cause: around older houses it is often off, and over the years trees and grass build up until the ground slopes water back toward the house. Piping the downspouts off the gutters is one of the most common fixes we make.
Where the grade cannot be changed, the water has to be carried away instead. On a job in Awendaw, the height of the house and an established lawn ruled out regrading, so we added drain basins, piped off the gutters and sent the water out past the owners’ riprap wall.
Every Service We Offer, Available On Johns Island
The projects on this page are only part of what we do. We offer all of our services on Johns Island, designed by Doug and Zach and built by our own crew. From the first site visit to the final walkthrough, here’s how a project works.
- Landscaping: landscape design and installation, plants and trees, sod, artificial turf, irrigation, drainage and grading, landscape lighting, mulch and bed edging, fountains and water features
- Hardscaping: patios and pavers, concrete and driveways, retaining walls, fire pits, pool decks
- Outdoor Structures: pergolas, pavilions, outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces, outdoor showers
Worth knowing before you start
- Pavilions: Pavilions run $30,000 to $90,000 or more. At $30,000 it is small and bare bones. A pavilion has a solid, watertight roof, so it stays usable in a summer storm. Standing-seam metal roofs handle Lowcountry rain, humidity and sun better than shingles.
- Outdoor kitchens: Outdoor kitchens run $8,000 to $20,000 or more. Appliances are usually the biggest part, and we add no markup to them. We run the gas, water and electrical ourselves, ideally before the patio goes down. We recommend a range hood whenever the grill sits under a roof, because smoke and grease collect on the ceiling.
- Irrigation: Overwatering causes fungus. Drip irrigation, moisture sensors and weather-based timers help.
- Drainage and grading: Quoted after walking the property, because the cost depends entirely on what is causing the water.
Small jobs are welcome too. There’s no minimum job size.
What Projects Typically Cost
| Plant beds | $1,000 – $2,000 |
|---|---|
| Front yard planting | $5,000 – $10,000 |
| Full house landscape | $20,000+ in plants |
| Stone or paver walkway | from about $18 per sq ft |
| Pergola | $6,000 – $30,000 |
| Irrigation | about $1,000 a zone |
Ranges are typical, not quotes. Size, materials, site conditions and finishes move the number. You’ll get an exact price after the consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of work do you do on Johns Island?
We offer all of our services on Johns Island - planting, pergolas, hardscaping, irrigation and full backyard builds. For an idea of the style, our James Island woodland garden has an entrance pergola in stained pressure-treated lumber, bluestone walkways, and planting with mondo grass, Japanese maples, ferns and tractor seat plant.
What is an entrance pergola built from?
This one is pressure-treated lumber, stained. Pressure-treated pine is the most cost-effective option and performs well with proper finishing.
How much does planting cost?
Plant beds run $1,000 to $2,000, a front yard is $5,000 to $10,000, and a full house landscape is $20,000 or more in plants. Plant size is a real budget lever: buying smaller and waiting two seasons is a legitimate way to hit a number.
Do you also work on Kiawah Island?
Yes, we have installed a new-construction landscape on Kiawah Island. Johns Island is in our main service area, so your consultation is free. Kiawah, Seabrook, Wadmalaw and Awendaw, and anywhere else more than an hour from Charleston or Summerville, carry a charge for the proposal trip. It comes off the price if you go ahead with the build, and it is not refundable if you do not.
Talk to Doug or Zach About Your Yard
Tell us what you have in mind for your Johns Island property, and we’ll set up a consultation at your home.