It is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the kitchen tap will not stop dripping, and your family arrives tomorrow. You could spend the evening searching, calling numbers and explaining the same problem five times. Or you could open Atlas, Zulma's directory of local businesses for every kind of job at home across Ontario, tell it what is wrong, and let the right people come to you.

Start with what is wrong

You do not need to know what the trade is called. Type what is going on, like "a tap that drips", "furnace making a noise" or "add an outlet in the garage", and Atlas takes you to the right kind of business and the ones near you.

Some jobs need a licence, and Atlas says so before you hire anyone. A new outlet is work for a licensed electrician, and in Ontario anything on a gas furnace needs a gas technician certified by the TSSA.

Prefer to browse? Every trade is broken down job by job, so drain cleaning, water heater installation and sump pumps each have their own list.

Every kind of help a home needs

Atlas covers the trades that keep a home working: plumbers, electricians, heating and cooling, pest control, appliance repair, pool service, painters, movers, locksmiths, home inspectors and more. It also covers the people around buying, selling and owning a home, from real estate agents and lawyers to mortgage advisers, home insurance and property management. And it lists businesses that help older people keep living at home.

Each business in its own words

A listing shows how a business describes itself: what it does, the towns it works in, how to reach it and any offer it is running. Need someone tonight? Show only businesses that offer emergency service. Want someone local? Narrow the list to businesses based in your town, or to those that serve it.

Ask once, keep your number

You can call a business straight from its listing. Or ask for a quote, and Atlas turns your request into a project: a page for the job with your description, your photos, a voice note if talking is easier, and when you want it done.

Send it to the business you found, and other businesses nearby can see the project too: up to three of them may send you a quote as well. Soon, Zu, your helper in Zulma, will also pick up to three businesses near you and send it to them for you.

A business sees what it needs to give you a price. It does not see your name, your street or your number. Opening a quote shares nothing. A business gets your details only when you reply to it, tap Share my contact, or accept its quote.

Compare, then choose

Quotes arrive on the project. Turn on Compare and they line up side by side: the total with HST, what each one covers, when they can start, the deposit and how long the price holds. They are never sorted by price. If a plumber a friend recommended quoted you over the phone, add that quote too and compare it with the rest.

The whole job stays with your home

When you choose, the project records who is doing the work and what it costs. The project has its own folder in Documents, where its photos and every invoice and receipt for the job are filed for you. Next time the tap drips, you will know exactly who fixed it, when, and what it cost.

Where to find it

Atlas is free to use at app.zulma.ca/atlas. As of October 25, 2026, it lists 12,950 businesses across 26 kinds of work, in 39 towns across Ontario.