How we score hoarding cleanup companies in Ontario

Ontario Hoarding Cleanup Directory currently scores 131 hoarding cleanup businesses across the province. Every score is built from measurable signals tied to public review data and listing information, run through the same rubric every time. Nothing here is a matter of taste, and nothing is edited after the fact. This page explains exactly how the number next to each business name is calculated.

The five signals, heaviest first

Each business gets a composite score from 0 to 100, built from five weighted signals:

• Sentiment, 28%: a synthesis of what recent reviews actually say, separating genuine praise from recurring complaints.
• Rating, 26%: the business's aggregate star rating on Google.
• Volume, 20%: how many reviews the business has, log-scaled so that five reviews cannot compete with five hundred, but a large gap still counts for something.
• Recency, 11%: how recently customers have left reviews, since a company that was reliable three years ago may look very different today.
• Completeness, 15%: whether the listing has a working phone number, website, posted hours, and a full address.

Why sentiment carries the most weight

Two hoarding cleanup companies can sit at the exact same 4.5-star average and be nowhere near equivalent. One might have a spread of consistently positive feedback. The other might carry the same average because a string of five-star reviews is masking repeated complaints about the same problem: crews leaving debris behind, quotes that balloon once the job starts, or biohazard situations handled without the right protective equipment. A star average flattens all of that into a single number and hides the pattern.

That is why sentiment is weighted above the raw star rating itself. We read what recent reviewers actually describe and weigh the themes that repeat, not just the score they left. For a service that often involves someone's home, belongings, and a genuinely difficult personal situation, catching a pattern of complaints matters more than a headline average.

Why the other signals matter

Rating still counts for over a quarter of the score because it's the clearest single-number signal of how customers felt overall. Volume matters because a rating built on four reviews is far less reliable than one built on 150, though we log-scale it so an already well-reviewed business doesn't need thousands more to keep climbing. Recency matters because ownership, staff, and standards change, and a company's reputation from 2021 doesn't guarantee its conduct now. Completeness matters for a more practical reason: a hoarding cleanup job is not something to book from a listing missing a phone number or posted hours. A business that keeps its basic information current is easier, and often safer, to actually hire.

The honest limits

This system runs on public review data, and that data has gaps. A business with only a handful of recent reviews gets a low-confidence score, and we label it as such on its listing so you know to treat that number cautiously rather than as a settled verdict. We also don't republish review text: what you'll read on each listing is our synthesis of the themes in recent reviews, with a link out to the business's Google reviews so you can read the original source yourself and judge it firsthand.

Paid placement and editorial disclosure

Scores come only from this rubric and the underlying data. They are never edited by hand. Where paid placement exists on the site, it is always labelled clearly and it never changes a business's score. Separately, any list where the picks or ordering involved editorial judgment, such as a curated best hoarding cleanup companies list, discloses that plainly on the page itself.

Who's behind this

Ontario Hoarding Cleanup Directory was built around one problem: hoarding disorder affects an estimated 2.5% of adults, roughly 380,000 people across Ontario, and families searching for help often run into scattered listings, unclear CAD pricing, and no straightforward way to compare providers. This directory exists to make that comparison easier. Editorial oversight of the rankings sits with Amara Whitfield, Editorial Lead, who maintains the rubric and reviews how it's applied. Data is refreshed monthly, and each listing carries a "last verified" stamp so you can see when it was last checked rather than assume the whole directory was updated at once.

Questions about a score, a listing, or how this directory works can go to the publisher at 437-529-0012, or you can start from the directory home page to browse listings directly. More on the publisher is at ontariohoardingcleanup.ca.