About YardGrade

Who runs YardGrade?

YardGrade is compiled and maintained by the YardGrade Research Team, the small independent editorial group behind this site, based in Toronto and founded by one person. We are not owned by, funded by, or affiliated with any landscaping or snow removal company, and no business can pay for a better position. The team builds the dataset from public Google Maps records, applies the ranking formula published on our methodology page, and reviews every dataset and price guide before it goes live.

What does YardGrade do?

YardGrade does two things. First, it ranks yard-service companies across Canada by verified Google reviews plus verification checks, so you can compare real pros instead of ad placements. Second, it collects quotes from up to 3 top-rated local pros for each homeowner's request through a free form, so homeowners can compare before choosing. We currently track 2,288 businesses in 14 categories, from full landscape builds to seasonal snow contracts.

How does YardGrade make money without selling rankings?

YardGrade is free for homeowners because contractors pay for the introductions we make, and later for clearly labelled featured placements and ads. That revenue is kept separate from the rankings on purpose. A company can buy an introduction or an ad slot, but it can never buy a higher rank. Keeping those two things apart is the whole point, because a directory you cannot trust is worthless.

What are YardGrade's editorial standards?

YardGrade follows four rules on every page. Rankings are never for sale, review data comes only from public Google Maps profiles, market pricing is always attributed to a named source, and any homeowner or business owner can request a correction. Those standards are what let us claim these 2,288 listings are ranked on merit.

• No pay-to-rank

  Placement comes from a transparent, published formula. Paid leads and featured slots are labelled and kept out of the ranking.

• Verified review data

  Every rating and review count is public Google Maps data. We do not write, buy or edit reviews.

• Named pricing sources

  Cost figures cite the specific contractor or authority they came from, and the market they describe, so you can check them yourself.

• Open corrections

  Spot something wrong? Email hello@yardgrade.ca and we fix or remove it, usually within 2 business days.

What is in the YardGrade dataset?

The July 2026 YardGrade dataset holds 2,288 yard businesses in Greater Toronto Area and Metro Vancouver spread across 14 categories and 107 mapped areas. The average Google rating is 4.7 stars across the 1,870 companies holding at least 3 Google reviews, with a median of 22 reviews each, and 69.5% of those hold a rating of 4.8 stars or higher. We map each company to a neighbourhood, borough or suburb inside the city it works in, so results reflect who serves your street.

How do I reach the YardGrade team?

YardGrade is small and responsive. For corrections, business-owner requests, media or partnership questions, email hello@yardgrade.ca. We reply to most messages within 2 business days. You can also read our full contact options and correction process on the contact page.