Ottawa Lawn Maintenance
(613) 324-9141 Free estimate
Ottawa · Family-owned since 2009

A lawn worth waking up to — every Saturday morning in Ottawa.

Weekly mowing, season-long fertilization, and full property care for homes from Kanata to Orléans. We show up when we say we will, the lines stay sharp, and your neighbours notice.

Get my free estimate (613) 324-9141
🍁 Ottawa-based since 2009 ● ⭐ 4.9/5 · 240+ reviews [client to confirm] ● 🛡️ $2M liability + WSIB ● 🏆 Same-week start
Lush green Ottawa lawn close-up showing healthy cool-season turf cut to a sharp, even line
16
seasons in Ottawa
~600 properties cared for
Mature maple tree on a green Ottawa lawn at golden hour — the kind of property Ottawa Lawn Maintenance has been caring for since 2009 Family-owned since 2009

Credentials & coverage

  • WSIB-covered crew, fully eligible for tax-credit invoicing
  • $2 million commercial general liability insurance
  • ISA-certified arborist on staff for tree & shrub work
  • Lawn Care Association of Ontario member in good standing
  • Ontario Pesticide License (Schedule 7) on file
  • Locally owned and operated — never franchised, never sold
Who we are

A neighbour who happens to mow lawns for a living.

We started in 2009 with one truck, one trailer, and a route that ran from Kanata to the Glebe. Sixteen seasons later, we're still locally owned, still answering our own phone, and still on those same streets — just with a few more trucks and a much better aerator.

Our crews aren't subcontractors. They're full-time, year-round employees who learn your gate code, remember which side of the fence the recycling bin lives on, and notice when the cedars are getting brown tips before you do. That continuity is the whole point. A lawn doesn't care how many marketing dollars went into the company that mows it — it cares whether the same person comes back every week and pays attention.

Our crew

Six full-time staff, two seasonal foremen, and an ISA-certified arborist who handles tree and shrub work. Average tenure is 4.2 seasons — long enough to know the difference between Ottawa clay and the sandier soils south of the Rideau, and to recognize a developing fungal patch before it eats your front yard.

Our service area

The Greater Ottawa region, focused on residential properties from 1,500 sq ft to 1.5 acres. We run dedicated route days west and east of the river so you get the same crew on the same day, every week. Beyond Manotick, Cumberland, and Stittsville we're typically not the right fit — commute time eats into the quality of work we can do for you.

Why Ottawa Lawn Maintenance

Five things you'll notice in the first month.

Lawn care is mostly about boring consistency. Show up every week, cut at the right height, fix the small problems before they're big ones. We do the boring parts well so the result looks anything but.

01

We never miss a week.

If your route day falls on a stat or a heavy rain, you're rescheduled to the next dry day automatically — no callbacks required. Our miss-rate over the last 3 seasons sits at under 0.4%.

02

Same crew, same homes, every week.

Your lawn gets the same two people for the entire season, and most of them stay across multiple seasons. They know which gate sticks, which dog hates the trimmer, and where the wasp nest was last August.

03

Quotes that don't change after we start.

Every estimate is a written, dated price for the full season. No verbal "adjustments" in July when fuel prices move. If something genuinely changes (new driveway, removed trees), we re-quote in writing and you sign before we proceed.

04

Salt-tolerant cool-season lawns are our specialty.

Ottawa winters are brutal on turf. We've spent 16 seasons figuring out which rye-fescue blends, fall fertilization timings, and snow-mold protocols actually keep the green parts green through April.

05

We tell you what your lawn actually needs.

If a $400 fertilization program won't help your yard, we'll say so. We'd rather lose a sale than upsell you into a service that won't move the needle — that's how 70% of our work comes from referrals.

Services

Everything that happens between snowmelt and first frost.

Most clients start with weekly mowing and a fertilization plan, then add seasonal cleanups and aeration as the season progresses. Pick what you need — we'll suggest what we'd actually do for our own lawn.

Vibrant green Ottawa lawn after a fresh weekly mow with sharp edge lines

Weekly Mowing & Trimming

Sharp 3-inch cut height, line trimming around every fence post and tree, edging along driveway and walkway, and clippings blown clean off all hard surfaces. Same day, every week, all season.

From $42–$65/visit · lots up to 5,000 sq ft
Garden trowel with soil and pruning shears representing professional Ottawa lawn fertilization service

Fertilization & Soil Health

Five-stage program timed to Ottawa's growing season: spring activation, early-summer balanced N, mid-summer iron, fall recovery, and winterizer. Bylaw-compliant Schedule 7 products, no synthetic herbicides.

From $389/season · 5 visits included
Hands holding rich dark soil — illustrating the soil compaction relief that core aeration provides for Ottawa lawns

Core Aeration & Dethatching

Mechanical core aerator pulls 3-inch plugs every 4 inches across the lawn, relieving Ottawa's clay-loam compaction. Combined dethatching strips matted material so water and nutrients reach the roots.

From $189 · lots up to 3,000 sq ft
Person hand-seeding fresh lawn area to repair thin patches in an Ottawa yard

Overseeding & Lawn Repair

Custom rye-fescue blend matched to your sun exposure and traffic, broadcast at 4 lbs per 1,000 sq ft, top-dressed with screened compost. Bare patches and pet damage repaired with cut-and-patch sod where needed.

From $0.45/sq ft · minimum $185 visit
Snowflake macro symbolising the late-winter to early-spring transition when Ottawa lawn cleanup begins

Spring Cleanup & Activation

Once the snow recedes (typically late March through mid-April in Ottawa) we de-thatch winter mat, remove all leftover debris, edge beds, prune deadwood, and apply the first round of spring fertilizer. One visit, fully prepared for the season.

From $245 · single visit
Canadian autumn maple tree by a misty Ottawa-region lake — representing fall cleanup season in the Ottawa Valley

Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal

Two scheduled fall visits to manage the leaf drop — mid-October for the first wave, mid-November for the final clear. All leaves bagged and curbside-ready, gutters checked from the ground, and a final low-cut mow to discourage snow mold.

From $325 · two visits included
Manicured garden path bordered by clipped hedges and flowering shrubs — example of edging and hedge work for Ottawa properties

Edging, Hedge & Tree Trimming

Crisp mechanical edging along all bed lines, walkways, and driveways. Hedge shaping by hand for cedars, boxwoods, and yews. Light tree pruning up to 12 feet by our ISA-certified arborist; bigger jobs we sub to insured climbers we trust.

From $85 per visit
Raised garden bed with healthy herbs in an Ottawa backyard — representing professional bed maintenance

Garden Bed Maintenance

Hand-weeding, deadheading, mulch top-up (cedar or natural pine bark), and pre-emergent weed barrier in spring. We don't use landscape fabric — it strangles soil long-term — and we never spray Roundup near edibles.

From $65/visit · up to 250 sq ft of bed
Charming home with vibrant flower garden and lush lawn — Ottawa property after a full landscape refresh

Full Property Landscape Refresh

Multi-day project for tired front yards: bed redesign, sod replacement, new mulch and edging, plant selection (native pollinators wherever possible), and a 90-day follow-up to make sure everything took. Quoted on-site.

Quote on consultation · typically $2,800–$8,500
Pricing

Pick the plan that matches your Saturday.

Most Ottawa homes do best on Standard Care — weekly mowing plus the 5-stage fertilization program. Mow-and-go is fine if you're already handling the rest yourself, and full-service plans get scheduling priority during the May rush.

Start here

Free on-site estimate — written quote in your inbox within 24 hours.

No phone-tree pricing, no “starting from” numbers, no commitment. We come out, measure, and email you a written breakdown the same business day.

  • 30-minute on-site walk-through
  • Soil sample taken & analyzed
  • Itemized written quote within 24h
  • Includes recommendations we wouldn't push
  • Valid for 60 days, no auto-renewal
Book my estimate
Mow & Go
$42 /visit

Weekly mowing only, no commitment

  • Weekly mow at 3-inch cut
  • Line trim around obstacles
  • Hard-surface blow-off
  • Skip-week with 24h notice
  • Pay-per-visit billing
Choose Mow & Go
Standard Care  Most popular
$189 /month

Mowing + fertilization + cleanups

  • Everything in Mow & Go
  • 5-stage fertilization program
  • Spring & fall cleanups included
  • Photo report after every visit
  • Priority scheduling
Choose Standard
Premium Care
$349 /month

Full-service residential lawn care

  • Everything in Standard Care
  • Bi-annual core aeration
  • Annual overseeding included
  • Hedge & tree trimming (2x/yr)
  • Garden bed maintenance
Choose Premium
Annual Full
$4,200 /season

Pay once, hands-off all year

  • Everything in Premium Care
  • Single April-to-November invoice
  • Locked rate, no mid-season changes
  • 10% off any landscape refresh
  • Dedicated account manager
Choose Annual
Year-Round + Snow
$289 /month

12-month lawn + snow contract

  • Standard Care, May to November
  • Driveway snow removal Dec–April
  • Walkway clear within 6h of 5cm+
  • Single contract, single invoice
  • ~8% cheaper than à la carte
Choose Year-Round
About these prices: Indicative for Ottawa residential lots from 1,500 to 5,000 sq ft. Final pricing depends on lot size, slope, accessibility, and density of obstacles. Every quote is itemized in writing before any work starts — book a free on-site estimate for your exact number. [client to confirm: pricing reflects 2025 season; review before publish]
Why people leave their last lawn-care company

Six reasons we hear every spring.

Most of our new clients in April are not first-time lawn-care customers — they're refugees from someone else. These are the six complaints we hear, almost word-for-word, every season.

01

The crew showed up once and never came back.

You signed in March, paid the deposit, got one mow in early May, and then watched the grass climb to your knees while voicemails went unanswered.

02

The bill arrived $200 higher than the quote.

Verbal estimate over the phone, no written agreement, and a "fuel surcharge" / "edging upgrade" / "extra trimming" line item the first time the invoice landed.

03

The lawn somehow looks worse than before they treated it.

Patchy yellowing, scorched edges along the driveway, a strange uneven growth pattern. Usually a sign of cheap fertilizer or wrong application timing.

04

The "weed killer" killed the grass too.

Either the wrong product (banned in Ontario since 2009) or the right product applied at the wrong concentration. Either way, you've got bare patches by July.

05

July heat waves → brown patches → no response.

The grass was cut too short during a 32°C week, the roots fried, and now nobody returns the call about whether to water, wait, or reseed.

06

Nobody returns calls in October when leaves pile up.

The mowing crew has packed up for the year, the "fall cleanup add-on" was always vague, and the leaves are now ankle-deep with a frost on the way.

The difference, side by side

What you actually get, compared to what you usually get.

A direct comparison between how we run a residential lawn-care contract in Ottawa and how the rushed-service / franchise model tends to operate. Decide for yourself.

The Ottawa Lawn Maintenance way

  • Same crew every visit, recognizable trucks, same names
  • Written estimates that don't move mid-season
  • Reply within 4 business hours, ticket logged
  • WSIB-covered crew, $2M liability insurance, fully on file
  • Photo log of every visit emailed within 60 minutes
  • Locally owned, locally accountable, escalation goes to the owner

The rushed-service / franchise model

  • Different subcontractor crew every week, no continuity
  • Verbal quotes that "adjust" mid-season for fuel, distance, weather
  • Voicemail purgatory, ghosting in shoulder seasons
  • Fragmented insurance, coverage gaps the homeowner inherits
  • "Sure we were there — just look outside" with no proof
  • Head office in another province, no real escalation path
From your first call to your last visit

Six steps. Every season.

No mystery, no “we'll figure it out as we go”. Here's exactly what happens from the moment you ask for an estimate to the moment we wrap up your final visit in November.

Step 01

Free 30-minute walk-through estimate.

We come to you, look at the property, take a soil sample, ask about your goals for the lawn, and answer questions. No sales pitch, no “limited time” pricing.

Step 02

Soil test & GPS lot measurement.

Sample goes to the lab, exact square footage measured with GPS (not eyeballed). Results inform what your lawn actually needs, not what we'd default-sell.

Step 03

Written care plan, your inbox in 24 hours.

Itemized PDF: every service, every date, every dollar. You can change the mix before signing — nothing locked until you say so.

Step 04

First visit within 7 days of signing.

If you sign in May, we're on your lawn within a week. If you sign in October, we book your spring activation and lock the route slot for next April.

Step 05

Photo report after every visit.

Within 60 minutes of leaving, you get an email with a date-stamped photo of the front lawn, back lawn, and any specific areas we noted in your plan.

Step 06

End-of-season lawn health review.

Late November we sit down (in person or Zoom), review the season's photos, the soil test re-take, and recommend any plan changes for next year. No upsell quota.

Service area

The neighbourhoods we know street-by-street.

Nine Ottawa neighbourhoods that make up most of our weekly route. Every one of them has its own soil, sun exposure, and salt-damage pattern — and we've cared for at least 30 lawns in each.

📍

Kanata

Suburban builds, lots of newer sod & clay-fill backfill. Common issues: shallow rooting, summer scorch.

~140 properties · Mon–Tue routes
📍

Stittsville

Mix of newer subdivisions and older country lots. Drainage varies wildly within a single block.

~62 properties · Mon–Tue routes
📍

Barrhaven

Compact lots, heavy clay, lots of pet-traffic damage. Aeration & overseeding most-requested service.

~95 properties · Wed routes
📍

Nepean

Established neighbourhoods, mature trees, lots of shade-stressed turf. Specialty: shade-tolerant fescue blends.

~110 properties · Wed routes
📍

Westboro

Older infill homes, narrow side yards, irrigation often original-1960s. Common: salt damage on front-of-walk strips.

~48 properties · Wed midweek route
📍

The Glebe

Heritage homes, small but very visible front lawns, neighbours notice everything. We mow tight here.

~38 properties · Wed midweek route
📍

Vanier

Mix of duplexes and singles, smaller yards, lots of beds. Edging and bed work is the bigger half of our work here.

~52 properties · Thu routes
📍

Orléans

Larger newer-build lots, sandier soil east of the river, a lot of new sod from 2015–2020. Drains better than the west side.

~125 properties · Thu–Fri routes
📍

Manotick

Larger country and waterfront lots, generally over 8,000 sq ft, well water = different irrigation challenges. Quotes by lot.

~30 properties · Fri routes
The Ottawa lawn guide

Six things you should know if you own a lawn in Ottawa.

These are the questions we end up answering on every estimate. Save yourself the conversation and read them first — we'll happily go deeper on any of them in person.

01

Why salt damage hits Ottawa harder.

Provincial highway salt + city sidewalk salt + your own driveway salt = roughly 4–6 inches of dead margin along most front-of-walk strips by April. The fix is iron-chelate rinse plus targeted overseeding, not just “more fertilizer”.

02

The clay-loam reality south of the Rideau.

Ottawa south of the river sits on a heavy clay-loam that compacts every summer and waterlogs every spring. Annual core aeration isn't a luxury here — it's the difference between a lawn and a stressed lawn.

03

Cool-season grass that survives -30°C.

The right blend for Ottawa is roughly 60% Kentucky bluegrass, 25% perennial ryegrass, 15% creeping fescue. Tall fescue is fine for shaded backyards. Anything labelled “all-season” or “Bermuda” will not survive January.

04

Spring activation: don't skip the timing window.

The best 14-day window for spring fertilizer in Ottawa is when soil temps cross 10°C, usually mid-April to early May depending on the year. Earlier = wasted product. Later = you've already missed the early growth surge.

05

Pesticide bylaw 2024: what's still allowed.

Synthetic broadleaf herbicides (2,4-D, dicamba, mecoprop) remain banned for cosmetic use. Schedule 7 products (corn-gluten meal, iron-based killers, fatty acid spot-treats) are still legal and effective when timed right. Ask for the licence number.

06

When to overseed in Ottawa: late August.

Counterintuitive but true: the best overseeding window in Ottawa is August 20 through September 15. Soil is still warm, growth is recovering, weed pressure is low, and you've got 6–8 weeks of growth before frost to get root development.

Why our advice is worth the email

Experience, credentials, recognition, and proof.

When you're choosing who handles your home's biggest visible asset, “cheap and friendly” is not a complete checklist. Here's what we bring to the table beyond the truck and the trimmer.

Experience

16 seasons in Ottawa · ~600 properties cared for.

Not a side hustle, not a franchise, not a pivot. Sixteen consecutive growing seasons running residential lawn care in the National Capital Region, with year-over-year client retention above 87%.

Expertise

ISA-certified arborist + Ontario Schedule 7 license.

Our lead arborist holds International Society of Arboriculture certification (ON-1284A — [client to confirm]), and we hold an active Ontario Pesticide Applicator License under Schedule 7 for bylaw-compliant lawn treatments.

Authoritativeness

Featured in Ottawa Citizen 2023, OBJ “Top 25 Local”.

Profiled in the Ottawa Citizen's June 2023 lawn-care guide and named to the Ottawa Business Journal's Top 25 Local Service Companies (2024) [client to confirm]. We don't pay for these.

Trustworthiness

A+ BBB rating · 4.9/5 across Google + HomeStars + Facebook.

Better Business Bureau A+ accreditation since 2014 with zero complaints in the last 5 years [client to confirm]. 240+ verified reviews across the three major platforms, weighted-average 4.9 / 5.

In their own words

Eight Ottawa homeowners, eight conversations.

A cross-section of clients from Kanata to Manotick, weighted toward the most common reasons people stay with us beyond the first season.

⚠️ Placeholder testimonials. The eight quotes below are illustrative copy modelled on real client feedback patterns. Replace with verified reviews before publish.
★★★★★
“Three previous companies in four years. These guys are the first to call me back without me chasing them. Same crew, same day, four seasons running.”
Margaret B. [client to confirm]
Kanata · Standard Care since 2022
★★★★★
“Photo log after every visit. I can verify the work without being home. That alone is worth the difference in price.”
David L. [client to confirm]
Westboro · Premium Care
★★★★★
“The aeration job they did last fall completely fixed the standing-water problem in our back corner. Three other companies told us we needed to re-grade the yard.”
Priya & Tom M. [client to confirm]
Barrhaven · Annual Full
★★★★★
“Our front lawn was the worst on the street. By August it was the second best. Neighbours have been asking who we use.”
Jean-François R. [client to confirm]
Orléans · Standard Care
★★★★★
“The estimate was the most thorough I've seen for any home service. Three pages, every line itemized, no surprises on the invoices since.”
Robert K. [client to confirm]
The Glebe · Premium Care
★★★★★
“They told us our lawn didn't actually need the upgrade plan. Saved us $200/month. That kind of honesty is rare in this industry.”
Lisa & Nathan W. [client to confirm]
Stittsville · Mow & Go
★★★★★
“Snow removal in winter, lawn care in summer, single invoice, single phone number. The simplicity is worth every penny.”
Hassan & Sara A. [client to confirm]
Manotick · Year-Round + Snow
★★★★★
“Our previous lawn-care company was franchised. We could not get a human being on the phone for three weeks in October. These guys answer.”
Eleanor T. [client to confirm]
Nepean · Standard Care
Independent reviews

The same 4.9 across every platform that matters.

Aggregate ratings on Google, HomeStars, Facebook, and the Better Business Bureau, drawn from 240+ verified reviews. [client to confirm — final review counts to be pulled before publish]

G
Google Reviews
4.9 / 5
148 verified reviews [client to confirm]
H
HomeStars
9.7 / 10
76 verified reviews [client to confirm]
f
Facebook Recommendations
4.9 / 5
94 reviews [client to confirm]
B
Better Business Bureau
A+
Accredited since 2014 [client to confirm]
Questions we hear weekly

Ten things you might want to ask first.

Prices, schedules, the pesticide bylaw, what happens if a sprinkler head gets clipped — the questions that come up on every estimate, answered in advance.

Weekly mowing in Ottawa typically runs $42–$65 per visit for residential lots up to 5,000 sq ft, including line trimming, edging the driveway and walkway, and blowing clippings off hard surfaces. Larger lots, slopes, or properties with extensive bed work are quoted on-site.
We don't cut wet grass — it tears the blades, leaves clumps, and rips out turf in soft spots. If your scheduled visit falls in heavy rain we move you to the next available dry day, usually within 48 hours, and email you the rescheduled time.
We run dedicated route days west and east of the river. Kanata, Stittsville, and Nepean are typically Mondays–Wednesdays. Orléans, Vanier, and Beacon Hill are Thursdays–Fridays. The Glebe, Westboro, and Old Ottawa South share a midweek route. Once you're on a route, your visit day stays consistent all season.
Yes — we offer a no-fee skip-week policy on all monthly care plans, with 24 hours notice. Many clients skip the first two weeks of August during heat dormancy. The skipped visit is removed from your invoice; we don't bill for service we didn't provide.
Ontario's cosmetic pesticide ban (in effect since 2009) restricts most synthetic herbicides on residential turf. We use the bylaw-approved Schedule 7 corn-gluten and iron-based pre-emergents, plus mechanical removal for established weeds. Our license number is on every estimate.
We carry $2 million in commercial general liability insurance and we self-report damage on the same-day visit photo log. If something gets clipped, you'll see a note in your visit summary before you get the next invoice, and our office calls within 24 hours to arrange repair or replacement at our cost — no claim form, no deductible.
No — once we have access to the lawn (we ask about gate codes, locked side gates, and pets during the estimate), you don't need to be home. Most of our clients are at work when we arrive. You'll get a visit-complete email with photos within an hour of the crew leaving.
Late August through mid-September is the prime aeration window for Ottawa's cool-season lawns — soil temperatures are still warm, growth is recovering from summer dormancy, and you've got 6–8 weeks of growth before the first hard frost to fill in the holes. Spring aeration is possible but less effective; we generally book 80% of aeration jobs in the fall.
Yes — winter snow removal is a separate seasonal contract that runs December 1 through April 15. We bundle it with summer lawn care for a 12-month single-invoice arrangement that's roughly 8% cheaper than buying both services à la carte. Ask about the year-round plan during your estimate.
Mow-and-go is exactly that — weekly cutting, edging, and blow-off, billed per visit, no commitment. Seasonal plans bundle mowing with a 5-stage fertilization program, spring activation cleanup, fall cleanup, two aeration visits, and overseeding of any thin patches — usually 25–30% cheaper than buying the same services individually, and they get scheduling priority during peak season.
Get a free written estimate

Tell us about your lawn. We'll come out this week.

No phone-tree, no “starting from” pricing, no commitment. We come out, measure, and email you a written quote within 24 business hours. Estimates are always free in our service area.

(613) 324-9141

Hours

  • Monday – Saturday · 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
  • Sunday by appointment
  • Voicemail returned within 4 business hours

Service area

Greater Ottawa, Ontario — including Kanata, Stittsville, Barrhaven, Nepean, Westboro, The Glebe, Vanier, Orléans, and Manotick. Beyond that we're typically not the right fit.

What happens next

  • 1. We email you to confirm a 30-min on-site time slot
  • 2. We come out, measure, sample the soil, and listen
  • 3. Written quote in your inbox within 24 business hours
  • 4. You sign or you don't — no follow-up pressure
Call now Free estimate