Meet the founder
Grant Wallace built a front porch for the whole city.
What started as one Atlanta neighbor trying to keep track of the good local contractors became a 17,000-member community, and a movement to put trust back at the center of hiring a pro.
He didn't set out to build any of this.
Grant Wallace just got tired of watching good people slip through the cracks. Honest Atlanta businesses doing beautiful work and going unnoticed, while homeowners had nothing to go on but cold ads and lead sites hawking their number to five companies at once. It bugged him enough that he did something about it.
When 2020 flipped everything upside down, Grant spun up a simple Facebook group so neighbors could vouch for the contractors they'd actually hired. Humble little idea. It took off anyway.
“Let's get all these into one central location, and that was as far as my brain went.”Grant Wallace, on the beginnings of The Southern Shmooze (Atlanta News First)
An entrepreneur's heart, pointed at the whole city.
Grant knows the contractor side firsthand. He runs Grantlanta Lawn, one of the founding businesses of the Shmooze, and he's the guy behind Peace of Mind Recycling too. Years of mowing lawns and hauling recycling taught him how hard it is for good operators to go toe to toe with big ad budgets. The Shmooze is his answer: earn the work with your reputation, not your ad spend.
That neighbors-first streak got the Shmooze picked up by WABE, Atlanta News First and CBS News Atlanta for turning plain old word of mouth into a real local economy, and it keeps the place one where independent owners stay independent and still do well.
He runs these too
Grant didn't learn this from the outside.
Before the Shmooze was anything, it was one Atlanta business owner with the same problems as everyone else in the directory. Both of these are still running.
Landscaping
Grantlanta Lawn
The one that started it all. Grant has been cutting Atlanta lawns since long before the Shmooze existed, and it remains one of the founding businesses in the registry. Everything he built for other contractors, he built for this company first.
Visit Grantlanta LawnRecycling
Peace of Mind Recycling
Doorstep glass pickup for metro Atlanta, started because most counties here stopped taking glass at all. More than 30,000 pounds recycled so far, and the story has been picked up by WABE, Atlanta Magazine and Atlanta News First.
Visit Peace of Mind RecyclingFamily guy first, everything else second.
At home, Grant's just a dad. He lives around Atlanta with his wife and their two little ones, the crew that keeps him grounded in why any of this matters. He'll tell you he doesn't really think of the Shmooze as a company. It's something he hopes is still standing when his kids are grown: neighbors looking out for neighbors, doing honest work and building good lives on it.
These days the community powers a certified registry, a concierge that matches homeowners with the right pro, and a growth studio that helps those businesses scale. But the Facebook group is still the beating heart, a front porch where Atlanta finds the folks who take care of its homes.
“It's a very active community.”Grant Wallace, Founder (WABE)
Hear it from Grant.
In his own words. Grant on why he built the Shmooze and what it does for Atlanta homeowners and the pros they hire.
Atlanta News First, February 2026. For some Atlanta businesses, work is all about ‘The Shmooze’.
Listen and read
Grant talks to a different Atlanta business every week.
The podcast is long conversations with the people in the registry: roofers, electricians, landscapers, furniture makers. How they got started, what they have learned, and what most homeowners get wrong about their trade. The newsletter is the short version, in your inbox.
The Southern Shmooze Podcast
Eighteen episodes and counting, with the business owners you will find in the directory. No ads, no pitch, just the story behind the truck in your driveway.
Recent guests include Frazer Roofing, Safety 1st Electrical, Native Scapes, Rescue Restoration and Old Pine Decks, all of them in the registry.
Listen to the podcastThe Southern Shmooze Weekly
A short note when a new episode drops, plus what is happening around the neighborhood.
Free, weekly, and two clicks to leave if it is not for you.
Subscribe to the newsletterAs featured in the local press.
Newest
CBS News Atlanta · September 2026
The Southern Shmooze helps Atlanta homeowners find trusted contractors through their neighbors
Watch the segment →
WABE · Closer Look
Atlanta entrepreneur expands The Southern Shmooze into a local business database
Read the story →
Atlanta News First
For some Atlanta businesses, work is all about 'The Shmooze'
Read the story →More coverage
The Southern Shmooze
Grant Wallace
Peace of Mind Recycling
- Atlanta Magazine · 2024 Peace of Mind will pick up your glass, since some counties won't
- Atlanta News First · 2024 An Atlanta father making a difference, one glass at a time
- WABE · 2024 Celebrating 10,000 pounds of recycled glass
- WABE · 2023 Pickup and transparency for your glass in Atlanta
- WABE · Closer Look · 2023 Making sure glass actually makes it to the recycling center
Before the lawn crew and the recycling truck, Grant played in the Atlanta band Baby Baby, which toured with Riot Fest and Warped Tour and landed in CBS News and Paste. Turns out booking your own shows for a decade is decent training for building a business community.
Come be part of it.
Whether you're a homeowner looking for someone you can trust or a business ready to grow on your reputation, there's a seat for you on the porch.