Services

Giving Back Is Part of Who We Are

At REMARK, we spend a lot of time talking about what it means to create something meaningful. As landscape architects, we design places where people live, work, gather, raise families, build businesses, worship, and create memories. We get to see firsthand how much the places around us affect people’s lives. But I have always believed our responsibility goes beyond the projects we design. Each year, REMARK has given at least 12% of our profits back to organizations and ministries that are making a real difference in people’s lives. That isn’t something we started because it sounded good from a marketing standpoint. And it isn’t something we do so we can put a logo on a website.

We do it because we believe we have been blessed with an opportunity to build a successful business, employ great people, serve incredible clients, and work in one of the best communities in the country. With that comes a responsibility to give back. For us, generosity isn’t what happens after everything else is taken care of. It’s part of the plan. Our primary giving focuses on three organizations that are especially important to us: HALOS, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, and New Day Community Church in Summerville, South Carolina.

Each organization serves people differently, but they share something we believe deeply at REMARK: people matter.Why REMARK Gives 12% of Our Profits When I started REMARK, I wanted to build more than another landscape architecture firm. Of course I wanted us to do exceptional work. I wanted us to become known for creative design, great service, strong relationships, and landscapes that actually get better with time. But success can’t just be measured by revenue, projects completed, awards, or how many people work here. There has to be a bigger purpose behind what we’re building.
That is why giving is tied directly to our profitability. As REMARK grows, our ability to give grows with it.

I love that model because it changes the way you think about business. When our team wins, we can give more. When our clients trust us with another project, we can give more. When a builder, architect, developer, municipality, or homeowner chooses REMARK, that decision ultimately has an impact that extends beyond their project.

Our growth creates an opportunity to make a larger impact. As a Landscaper SC clients may discover while searching for landscape design services, we know there are plenty of companies competing for projects. We want people to understand there is something deeper behind REMARK. We are building a company that intends to leave the Lowcountry better than we found it.

HALOS: Helping Families Stay Together

One of the organizations we’re proud to support is HALOS – Helping and Lending Outreach Support. HALOS serves grandparents, relatives, and family friends who step up to raise children when their parents aren’t able to safely care for them. Their mission centers around helping these kinship caregivers succeed while providing children with stability, identity, belonging, and the opportunity to remain connected to family.

Think about what that means in real life. A grandmother suddenly becomes a full-time parent again. An aunt or uncle takes in a child. A family member says, “We’ll figure it out,” even when they weren’t financially, emotionally, or practically prepared for what comes next. HALOS steps into that gap. They help connect families with resources and services, provide support for caregivers, offer educational programs, help families navigate complicated systems, and assist with practical needs. That’s the kind of organization we want to stand behind.

At REMARK, one of our core values is Stewardship. To us, stewardship means taking care of what has been entrusted to you. HALOS demonstrates that principle in an incredibly tangible way by helping people who have stepped forward to care for children who need them.

Lowcountry Orphan Relief: Meeting Children Where They Are

Lowcountry Orphan Relief is another organization whose work hits home for us. They support children who have experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect by providing essential items and resources when those children need them most. Sometimes helping someone doesn’t begin with a huge, complicated solution. Sometimes a kid just needs clothes that fit. Shoes. Socks. Toiletries. School supplies. A backpack. Things most of us don’t think twice about can mean an enormous amount to a child going through one of the most uncertain periods of his or her life. Lowcountry Orphan Relief provides practical support and essential items to children throughout the Lowcountry. There’s something incredibly powerful about meeting a practical need at exactly the right time.

Their work restores something beyond the physical item being given. It can restore dignity. It reminds a child that somebody sees them and somebody cares. We’re proud that part of the profits generated through REMARK’s work can support organizations doing this kind of work right here in South Carolina. When someone finds REMARK while searching online for Landscaper SC, landscape architecture in South Carolina, or landscape design in Charleston, I want them to understand that hiring REMARK ultimately impacts more people than those sitting around the design table.

New Day Community Church: Faith Put Into Action

REMARK also gives to New Day Community Church in Summerville, South Carolina. My faith influences the way I look at family, leadership, business, generosity, and what it means to serve other people. For me, those things aren’t supposed to exist in separate boxes. What I appreciate about New Day is the emphasis on putting faith into action and serving people in the community. That aligns with how I believe a church – and a business – should operate. You don’t just talk about what you believe. You live it.

For REMARK, supporting New Day is one way we can help strengthen a church community that is actively investing in people, families, relationships, and the greater Summerville area.

Local Business Should Strengthen the Local Community

REMARK has grown because people throughout Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, Kiawah Island, the Lowcountry, and beyond have trusted us. We don’t take that lightly. When someone searches for Landscaper SC or a South Carolina landscape architect and eventually hires REMARK, that project becomes part of a much bigger ecosystem. The revenue from that project supports our employees and their families. It allows us to hire and develop young landscape architects and designers. It supports local consultants, contractors, nurseries, manufacturers, photographers, printers, vendors, and other businesses. And because of our commitment to give 12% of our profits, successful projects also allow us to invest back into organizations serving people in our community.
That’s what local business can do.

I believe businesses should be profitable. I’m unapologetic about that. A healthy business can employ people, create opportunities, invest in its community, survive difficult economic periods, and continue serving people for decades. Profit isn’t the end goal. It’s a tool. What matters is what you do with it.

Designing for Something Bigger

Landscape architecture is ultimately about people. Yes, we talk about grading, drainage, planting, hardscape materials, circulation, native plants, stormwater, construction details, budgets, permitting, and hundreds of other technical considerations. Those things matter. But they’re not the final reason we’re doing the work.

We’re creating the place where someone’s kids will grow up. We’re designing the courtyard where employees will eat lunch. We’re planning the park where neighbors will meet each other. We’re helping shape communities where thousands of people may eventually live. We’re creating the backyard where a family will spend Saturday afternoons together. The drawing is never the whole story. The people are the story. I think giving works the same way. A percentage on a financial statement doesn’t mean much by itself. What matters is the person on the other side of that number.

A child gets a new pair of shoes. A grandparent raising grandchildren gets help navigating a difficult situation. A family gets support. Someone receives prayer or encouragement when they desperately need it. A child realizes somebody hasn’t forgotten about them. That’s the return that matters.

What Choosing REMARK Helps Support

If you’re considering REMARK for a residential, commercial, institutional, municipal, or master-planning project, we obviously want you to choose us because we’re the right landscape architecture firm for the job. We want to earn your business. Our job is to listen, understand what you’re trying to accomplish, think creatively, solve problems before they become expensive problems, protect your investment, and ultimately create something meaningful. But I also want our clients to know who they’re doing business with.

Whether you found us by searching Landscaper SC, Charleston landscape architect, landscape designer near Charleston, or through a referral from one of our clients or partners, you’re working with a company that believes success creates responsibility. And when REMARK succeeds, we intend to keep sharing that success.

Our Commitment Going Forward

Our commitment is straightforward:

REMARK gives 12% of our profits each year to organizations and ministries we believe are making a meaningful difference, with HALOS, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, and New Day Community Church among the primary organizations we support. As REMARK grows, I want that impact to grow. More projects should mean more opportunities. More revenue should mean more generosity. More success should mean more responsibility. That’s the kind of company I want REMARK to continue becoming. If you’re searching for Landscaper SC because you need help with a landscape architecture project, we’d love the opportunity to talk with you. But even if you never hire REMARK, I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to learn about HALOS, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, and New Day Community Church. Find an organization that matters to you. Give. Volunteer. Serve. Introduce someone else to their mission. Every business and every person has something they can contribute.
We happen to design landscapes. We also believe we have an opportunity to help build something much bigger than landscapes.

All Things Made New

At REMARK, you’ll hear the phrase All Things Made New. It’s more than a tagline to me. There is something powerful about taking something that isn’t reaching its potential and helping create a new future for it. We get to do that physically through landscape architecture, but organizations like HALOS, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, and New Day are doing it in people’s lives.
That’s why we’re proud to support them. And that’s why giving back will continue to be part of REMARK as we grow throughout Charleston, Summerville, the Lowcountry, South Carolina, and beyond.
If you came here looking for Landscaper SC, I hope you leave knowing a little more about the people behind REMARK and what we’re trying to build. We want to create exceptional landscapes. We want to build an exceptional company. And we want the success of that company to make a difference in the communities that have given us the opportunity to succeed.
That’s what giving back means to us.

– J.R. Kramer
Managing Partner, REMARK