Every Way a Landscaping Company Can Get Customers in the GTA

There’s no single answer to this. Depends on your budget, how long you’ve been running, and whether you want leads tomorrow or a pipeline that fills itself over the next year.

This is everything — ranked roughly by how fast each method produces results.

Paid methods (leads this week)

Google Ads

You bid on keywords like “landscaping Mississauga” or “patio installation Toronto.” When someone searches that, your ad shows at the top. You pay per click — usually $3 to $15 in the GTA depending on the keyword and season.

Works fast. You can get calls the same day you launch a campaign. The catch is it stops the second you stop paying. And if your website doesn’t convert visitors into calls, you’re paying for traffic that bounces.

Average return for home service ads in Canada sits around 4 to 5x — meaning for every dollar spent, you get four or five back in revenue. That number swings a lot based on how well the campaign is managed and whether your site does its job.

HomeStars / Houzz / Bark

You pay to be listed or you pay per lead. HomeStars is big in Ontario. Houzz leans toward higher-end design projects. Bark sends you leads for a fee.

The upside is zero setup — you make a profile and leads come to you. The downside is you’re competing with every other landscaper on the platform, the leads aren’t exclusive to you, and you’re renting access to customers rather than building your own channel.

Worth doing as one piece of the mix. Risky as your only source.

Door-to-door / flyers

Old school. Still works for lawn care and maintenance services. Less effective for bigger design-build projects where the customer is going to research online before calling anyone.

Cost is mostly your time plus printing. Hit a neighbourhood right after the snow melts and you’ll catch people thinking about their yard.

Free methods (takes effort, not money)

Google Business Profile

This is the map listing that shows up when someone searches “landscaping near me.” Three businesses appear. If you’re one of them, you get calls. If you’re not, that person doesn’t know you exist.

Setting it up is free. Ranking in the top three depends on:

• Number of Google reviews (biggest factor)
• How complete your profile is — photos, services listed, hours, description
• How close you are to the person searching
• Whether your business info is consistent across the internet

The landscaping companies dominating the map pack in most GTA cities have 50+ reviews and post project photos regularly. That’s the bar.

How to get reviews: ask right after the job when the client is happy. Text them a direct link to your Google review page. Most people will do it — they just need the link and the ask. Two or three a month adds up.

Your website

A website does two things: it shows up in Google search results, and it converts visitors into calls or quote requests.

Most landscaping websites fail at both. They load slowly on phones, they don’t mention specific cities or services in ways Google can pick up, and they make it hard to actually contact the business.

What matters on a landscaping site:

• Speed. Under three seconds on mobile. Test yours at pagespeed.web.dev
• Each service on its own page with the city in the title. “Interlocking Brampton” and “Landscape Design Mississauga” are different pages because they’re different searches
• A phone number and quote form visible without scrolling
• Photos of your actual work, not stock images
• Your service area listed clearly

A site that does those things will outperform a pretty site that doesn’t. Design matters less than function.

Local SEO

This is the process of getting your website to show up when people search for your services in your area. “Landscaping Vaughan.” “Sod installation Oakville.” “Garden design Toronto.”

Each of those searches is a person ready to hire. Ranking for ten of them is like having ten salespeople working for you around the clock.

How it works: you create a page for each service in each city you work. You make sure your business name, address, and phone number are the same everywhere online — Google, HomeStars, Houzz, your site, Facebook. You get listed in directories. Over time, Google starts trusting your business for those searches.

Timeline is three to six months for real traction. Not fast. But once you rank, leads come in without ongoing effort or cost.

Project photos and before/afters

Your finished work is your best sales tool.

A before-and-after of a torn-up yard turned into a stone patio with a fire pit does more selling than any paragraph of text. Homeowners see it and picture their own yard.

Post them on your Google profile, your website, and Instagram. Tag the city. Write one line about what the client wanted and what you built. Takes five minutes per project.

Over six months of doing this consistently, your Google profile builds up a photo library that makes you look established and busy. Both are things homeowners care about when choosing who to call.

Instagram

Works well for landscaping because the work is visual. Post finished projects, tag the location, use relevant hashtags (#GTAlandscaping #MississaugaLandscaper etc).

Don’t overthink it. Phone photos with decent lighting are fine. The algorithm favours consistency over production quality. Three posts a week of real projects beats one polished video a month.

Instagram alone won’t fill your schedule. But it builds credibility. When someone googles your company name and finds an active Instagram with real work, it builds trust.

Referrals

The highest quality leads you’ll ever get. A referral from a happy customer closes at a much higher rate than any ad or cold lead.

Most landscaping companies leave this to chance. The ones that get consistent referrals ask for them specifically. After a project wraps up: “If you know anyone else looking for work done, we’d appreciate the introduction.” Simple. Doesn’t feel pushy if the client is happy.

Some companies offer a referral discount — $100 or $200 off for both the referrer and the new client. Creates a reason to actually follow through on the referral.

Facebook groups

Join local community groups — “[City] Community,” “GTA Homeowners,” neighbourhood-specific groups. Don’t post ads. Answer questions when someone asks for contractor recommendations. Be helpful. When people see your name attached to useful advice repeatedly, you become the person they think of when they need landscaping.

Takes patience. Not a fast method. But it’s free and it compounds.

What to prioritize

If you’re starting from zero online presence:

1. Google Business Profile — free, fast impact if you get reviews

2. A basic website that loads fast and has your info — doesn’t need to be expensive

3. Ask every client for a review and a referral

If you have a website and some presence:

1. Fix whatever’s broken on the site (speed, mobile, contact form)

2. Start creating service+city pages for SEO

3. Post project photos consistently

If you have money to invest:

1. Google Ads targeting your highest-value services in your area

2. A proper website redesign focused on conversion

3. Monthly SEO to build the organic pipeline alongside paid

What doesn’t work (or isn’t worth the money for most)

Buying lead lists. Low quality. The leads are sold to multiple companies. Conversion rates are terrible.

Paying someone on Fiverr for SEO. You get what you pay for. Most cheap SEO services either do nothing or use tactics that get your site penalized.

Posting on social media without a plan. Random posts once every two weeks doesn’t move the needle. Either commit to consistent posting or spend that time on Google and your website instead.

Copying what big companies do. A national landscaping franchise has a different playbook than a local crew. Their strategies don’t translate down.

The numbers behind this

For context — these are industry averages, not guarantees:

• Average cost per click for landscaping keywords in Ontario: $4-$12
• Google Ads return for home services: 4-5x revenue per dollar spent (well-managed campaigns)
• Percentage of local searches that result in a visit or call within 24 hours: 28%
• Percentage of consumers who read online reviews before choosing a local business: 87%
• Average time for local SEO to show measurable results: 3-6 months

This page gets updated as things change. Last updated April 2026.