What this registry doesn't do
We are deliberately narrow. A registry that tries to do too much eventually does nothing well. Here is what we explicitly do not check — and how to fill those gaps before you commit to a provider.
We do not assess service quality
A licensed provider is legally allowed to operate. That is not the same as being good. A fully licensed retirement home can still have rude staff, indifferent care, hidden fees, or a culture that deteriorates between inspections. A licensed mover can still arrive late, break things, or pad an estimate.
What to do: Use this registry to filter for who is legally legitimate. Then tour, ask hard questions, ask current residents and families, and check provincial inspection reports where they exist (e.g., the Ontario LTC public reporting portal).
We do not host customer reviews
Reviews are valuable, but they are also gameable, manipulable, and easily weaponized — especially in senior care, where families are stressed, providers are litigious, and a single dispute can dominate a profile for years. Building moderation systems that hold up to that pressure is a different business than verifying credentials, and we have decided not to take it on. The full reasoning, including the conditions under which we'd revisit this, is on the why we don't show reviews page.
What to do: Read external reviews critically — Google, provincial complaints registries, and local senior advocacy groups all have data we deliberately do not aggregate. If you have a serious complaint about a provider, your provincial regulator is the right place to file it; it carries far more weight than a star rating.
We do not cover every provider
We list only what we have actually verified. That means our coverage is uneven — some cities have several providers, others have none yet. A missing listing is not a verdict; it just means we haven't gotten there. See the coverage mapfor an honest look at where we are and aren't.
What to do: If you know a credible provider that should be here, submit them. Anyone can submit — you don't have to be the provider.
We are not a referral or placement service
We do not match families with providers, take placement fees, or recommend specific options. If you need someone to walk you through choosing a care setting, look for an independent geriatric care manager or a non-profit caregiver-support organization. Paid senior placement services exist; some are excellent, some are lead-generation in a trench coat. Be deliberate about which you engage.
The trade-off, in one sentence
By doing one thing rigorously — credential verification — we can be trusted on that one thing. Everything else, we point you to the right tool.
Further reading on what we don't measure
The credential-checked model deliberately excludes the emotional shape of these decisions — what families feel as a parent's memory shifts, what objects carry when a home is downsized, how care decisions land on the people making them. We don't write about that here. These pieces, from Clear Cut Custom Lab, do, and they meet families where they actually are.
- When Memory Fades, Home Remains: Creating Anchors for Stories↗
On dignity, agency, and how physical objects can hold a parent's story when memory starts to soften.
- The New Era of Gifting: Preserving the Places We Love↗
On the shift from generic personalised gifts toward preserving the specific places that anchor a life.
We're not affiliated with the providers we list, and these links are not paid. Clear Cut Custom Lab is a sibling project from the same small team that runs Clear Cut Meridian.