About the
Yard Dawgs

2014

Starting out as “JL Lawn Care” March 2014 is when our business started!

James (left) was in his 1st year of business at U of C and Liam (right) was in his 1st year studying engineering at U of S. They decided to start a lawn care company that focuses on aerations for the summer, then back to school in the fall. 
 
The name “JL Lawn Care” only lasted a week as people kept mistaking it for sounding like “Jail Lawn Care”. So after an emergency brainstorming session on finding the right name, Yard Dawgs was born. 
 
Right away, people appreciated our commitment to professionalism, honest pricing, great workmanship and our attention to a excellent customer experience from start to finish. 

2015

With our first year off to a great start, many of our clients were delighted to have us back!

 This year started out with excitement as the partnership grew out of the old “family minivan” for their lawn care vehicle and they invested in their first truck. The main services offered at this time were lawn aeration, power raking and mowing. 
 
The plan was just to keep this lawn care company running during the summer, return the university in the Fall, and after graduation go out into the world and find a “real job”… You can probably guess where this is going.

2016

Our clients loved the way we did our services and our commitment to an unmatched customer experience

Demand kept increasing for a variety of home services and we found ourselves, for better of worse, doing a wealth of home services now including landscaping and window washing. 
 
Things were getting busy, and our team has been growing! Having done many services at this point, we began focusing primarily on lawn care services including mowing, spring cleanups, and we just started focusing on fertilizer and weed control as a service as many of our customers were looking for a better alternative for their lawn care needs. 

2017

Embarking into landscaping and commercial projects

In 2017, we embarked on our journey by venturing into landscaping and commercial projects, including parking lot construction (talk about diversifying your services)

However, as we took on more projects, we quickly found ourselves overwhelmed, tackling jobs we were not fully prepared for. Despite the chaos, these early experiences were invaluable, teaching us crucial lessons about the industry and the importance of focusing on our core competencies.

2019

Realizing the need for a more focused approach, we moved our operations into a barn, having outgrown our initial garages

This shift marked a significant turning point as we decided to specialize exclusively in lawn care, abandoning the various other miscellaneous services. This decision allowed us to hone our skills and build a strong reputation in our niche.

We did keep commercial year snow removal within our services offering, which was great until we realized our barn didn’t have any heat. So we became desperate to move yet again.

In November 2019, we moved to our current shop at 330 40 Ave NE. This was a large space outside of our budget, however we knew if we wanted to one day be a “million dollar company” it was time to start acting like one.

This move was terrifying, but we needed the space for our equipment and the office area to start focusing in.

2020

This was a big year!

With both owners graduating from university and planning their weddings, the pressure to professionalize the business mounted. 

We took bold steps to streamline our operations with a FULL focus now on fertilizer and weed control programs. 

This period was marked by intense growth and the challenge of balancing personal milestones with the demands of a rapidly expanding business.

This was the first year we were able to keep 3 trucks working full time just doing specific lawn care services. 

2021

Our dedication and hard work paid off as we achieved a major milestone, hitting the 7-figure mark in lawn care revenue alone.

Our team was growing and individuals who came on originally as lawn care technicians started proving themselves and taking on more responsibility as managers. This helped build momentum. 

With this new niche, we decided to sell of our snow removal sites so that we could spend the winter now reviewing the previous season and spending time focusing on how we can make the next upcoming lawn care season better and more efficient for our clients, employees and business.

2022

Fuelled by our recent success, we set ambitious expansion plans into motion. However, we soon realized we had grown too quickly.

The season was fraught with challenges and setbacks, forcing us to reassess and recalibrate. Despite the difficulties, this period was a learning experience, teaching us valuable lessons about sustainable growth and careful planning.

2023

After a tough previous year, we decided to concentrate our efforts solely on Calgary.

This strategic refocus paid off, resulting in our best season to date. The success of this year validated our approach and set the stage for future growth, proving that a well-defined focus could yield outstanding results.

This previous year was difficult, however in retrospect it was exactly what we needed to learn some priceless lessons on how to budget forecast, build a team, hire and promote strategically, and it resulted in us growing our client base by over 50% in a single season. 

What we were doing was working, and the proof was in reviews we were hearing from our customers. This was the year we hit 1,000 5-star google reviews which gave us reassurance that we were doing the right thing for our customers 100% of the time.

2024

A year of focus

In 2024, we doubled down on Calgary. It was a year of steady, deliberate growth where we sharpened our service, strengthened our team, and proved we could deliver consistently at scale in our home market. Water restrictions across the city tested us, and our crews adapted quickly to keep lawns healthy through a tough season. We knew we had more in us, and 2024 set the foundation for what came next.

Building the foundation. By the end of the year, we had the team, systems, and confidence to take Yard Dawgs beyond Calgary.

2025

Breaking out

In 2025, everything changed. After some key team changes and a sharper focus on what makes Yard Dawgs great, we grew by more than 50% and successfully reopened our Edmonton, Red Deer, and Saskatoon branches. Each of those markets responded faster than we expected, and within a single season our prairie expansion was off the ground and thriving. It was the year Yard Dawgs stopped being a Calgary company and started becoming a Western Canadian one. This was our biggest growth year is the recent years.

Doors opened, and we walked through them. 2025 proved that the model works anywhere there's grass to grow and homeowners who care about their yard.

2026

The push

In 2026, we're not slowing down. We're opening Medicine Hat and Regina, bringing us to six branches across Alberta and Saskatchewan, and we've added a wave of new team members in operations, customer service, and the field to support the growth. But the real focus this year isn't the map. It's the customer. Every system we're building, every hire we're making, and every process we're tightening is aimed at one thing: delivering the best lawn care experience in Canada.

The road ahead. Six branches is a milestone, not a finish line. We are still no where close to where we want to be. The adventure is just beginning.

If you are interested in opening up a Yard Dawgs branch. Fill out the form on this page to apply to be an Operating Partner.