Straight, plain-language advice on hiring and comparing service pros in Ottawa, plus the odd bit of local news. No fluff, no sales pitch.
Sep 1, 2026
Natural Resources Canada says the cure for ice damming is attic air sealing and insulation, not a person on your roof every January. How a dam forms, when to act, and why a seasonal snow contract almost never covers the roof.
Read guideSep 1, 2026
The one ranked list here with a rating floor, because 11 of 49 Ottawa snow companies sit below 4.0 and three below 3.0. Names every company the floor excluded, plus the contractor licence and why routes fill in autumn.
Read guideAug 28, 2026
Two Ottawa lists price the same door at $1,700 installed and at $900 plus labour, and the gap is not the door. Plus the City's same size opening exemption, and why there is no licence to ask a garage door installer for.
Read guideAug 28, 2026
Nine faults priced with the symptom published beside each one, two Ottawa diagnostic fees that nearly agree, an emergency premium charged two different ways, and the section of O. Reg. 212/01 that uses the word repair.
Read guideAug 28, 2026
Yes, over 10 square metres. Plus the $88 the City charges to look up whether the basement you are buying was ever permitted, and the second permit it rebates at 100 per cent alongside up to $3,000 on a sump pump.
Read guideAug 28, 2026
Ontario prescribes 144 trades and none of them is renovation contractor, so the checks that exist are a contract with fifteen required contents, an ECRA/ESA number, a 90-day WSIB clearance, and who pulls the City permit.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
The widest spread of any pool we have measured, 9,157 reviews at the top against 760 at tenth, plus the two separate licences an Ottawa HVAC job needs and why a firm can hold one without the other.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
Ranked on primary-category profiles only, with the ECRA/ESA licence number you can check yourself in two minutes and the ESA notification that gets your job inspected. Measured 19 August 2026.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
A top ten out of only 22 companies, and the page says so. Also what the published evidence actually shows about duct cleaning, and why the cheap whole-house special is usually not whole-house.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
Ranked on review volume, with the City permit rule that catches homeowners out: 30 cm at breast height on most urban properties, no suburban exception since 2024, and pruning exempt.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
Four different trades share this category — lawn care, design, hardscaping and maintenance — so each row names which one it is. Includes the City hardscaping licence required since 1 March 2026.
Read guideAug 19, 2026
Seven of the ten lead with bathrooms rather than kitchens, and the page explains why. The trade where a ranked list should carry the least weight in your decision, and what to use instead.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
$100 to $150 per hour, a $75 to $150 service call, panel upgrades at $2,500 to $4,000, and the ECRA/ESA licence number you can verify yourself in two minutes.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
$400 to $900 a season or $40 to $100 per visit, why the windrow the plow leaves is legally yours, the contractor licence to ask for, and the City subsidy paying up to half per event.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Springs $200 to $550 and openers $85 to $380, from two Ottawa price lists that disagree on what a tune-up is, plus the cycle math that tells you when your spring goes.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
A $150 to $200 minimum before anyone starts and $75 to $145 an hour across three published price lists, why nobody here publishes a day rate, and the compulsory-trade line that splits a punch list in two.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Solid hardwood $8 to $14 per sq ft installed from three companies against $10 to $18 from the one that shows its arithmetic, the charges outside that number, the 2 mm gap standard, and why no register exists to look your installer up on.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Ants from $180 and mice from $250 at one company against a $249 bundled visit at another, why neither will publish a termite price, and the sealing work the City by-law already requires of you.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Furnace replacement $3,000 to $8,000 and repairs from $150, across five price lists that disagree, plus the two separate licences one changeout needs and the rebate that closed.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Four published price lists that disagree by half on an 80-foot tree, the $200 City permit against a $500 minimum fine, and the 30 cm rule that changed under the suburbs in 2024 while most tree companies still publish the old one.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Call-out fees of $60 to $110 and repairs of $100 to $450, from six Ottawa price lists compared side by side, plus why Ontario requires a certificate for gas appliances but not electric ones.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
The $189 and $249 specials both stop at 10 vents while a whole-system clean is published at $450 to $950, plus the Ontario law that bans selling this at your door and the federal study that could not verify the benefits.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Interlock at $10 to $50 per sq ft across four Ottawa price lists that disagree, sod at $0.31 to $4.00 across two, and the City hardscaping contractor licence required since 1 March 2026 that no ranking page mentions.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Per-window prices from $190 to $2,500 across four Ottawa price lists that disagree on what the number even includes, the same-size-opening rule that decides whether you need a permit, the City's $309 heritage fee, and the $5,000 federal grant two ranking pages still advertise after it closed.
Read guideAug 12, 2026
Five Ottawa companies publish bands that do not agree, one firm's ceiling being another's floor, plus the City's permit rate of $12.75 per $1,000 of construction value that you can calculate yourself, and the egress window rule.
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Aug 10, 2026
Ranked by how many Google reviews each profile carries, measured 10 August 2026, with the method stated and six of the ten not listed here.
Read guideAug 10, 2026
Ranked on primary-category Google profiles only, so three large heating companies are excluded and named. Branch profiles folded to one row per company. Measured 10 August 2026.
Read guideAug 10, 2026
The same stated method, applied where it costs us something: a Velogics client listed in this directory holds 2 reviews against a floor of 50, and is named as excluded. Measured 10 August 2026.
Read guideAug 10, 2026
Ranked on primary-category profiles only, so an HVAC business that would have placed sixth is excluded and named. Ice dams, eave protection and the deck-replacement change order. Measured 10 August 2026.
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Aug 7, 2026
9 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
Read articleAug 6, 2026
6 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jul 27, 2026
What it costs, the five checks before you hand over a key, the red flags, and the questions to ask first.
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Jul 27, 2026
$30 to $50 per hour per cleaner, or about $120 to $180 flat for a 2,000 sq ft home, and what moves the price.
Read guideJul 27, 2026
Usually $120 to $180 per hour for two movers and a truck, plus a travel fee and minimums, and what drives the bill up.
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Jul 14, 2026
6 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jul 13, 2026
6 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jul 11, 2026
5 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jul 2, 2026
5 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jun 24, 2026
6 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jun 16, 2026
4 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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Jun 5, 2026
5 min read · Ottawa Service Directory
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