How we chose
We built the candidate list from the chimney firms shown across Telford on Google Maps, then matched each at Companies House and read its own website for services, areas and terms. Trade credentials were sourced from the issuing registers, each firm's own website and platforms such as the Telford Trading Standards scheme site [4]. Every business first meets three basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and it holds anything the law demands for this work. Scoring then rewards what customers say most, proof of competence next, then responsiveness, trading history, insurance and openness about price and cover. The evidence behind this round was read from the live sources and is dated September 2026.
How to hire
Start by matching the firm to the fault. A chimney repair specialist owns the stack: repointing, brick replacement, lead flashing, flaunching, pots and cowls, rebuilds and removals. A sweep clears soot and checks the flue draws properly, while a stove installer fits, lines and certifies appliances. Severnside covers the structural end, Alpine covers repairs wrapped around stove and liner work, and K and N covers sweeping only, so describe the symptom and let the scope pick the firm.
Expect a proper job to run in the same order whatever the fault. You describe the problem and send photos of the stack, the flashing and any damp inside, then the firm visits, gets eyes or a camera on the chimney, and confirms whether mortar, lead, liner or brickwork is at fault. Then comes a written quote, scaffolding or a tower where the roof cannot be worked from ladders, the repair itself with the flashing dressed and the pointing finished neatly, and a walk-round with photos of the finished work before you pay the balance.
Read the quote like a contract, because it becomes one. It should name exactly what gets done, from which faces get repointed to how many courses get rebuilt to whether lead is patched or replaced on all sides, plus access, materials, labour, VAT, start date, likely duration and what happens if opening up reveals worse damage. Every firm in this round offers free quotes or a quote form but none publishes rates, so two quotes on the same written scope are the only way to compare like with like.
Check the credentials that fit the job, and check them yourself. For anything involving a stove, liner or flue, ask for the installer's HETAS ID card and look the business name or company number up on the HETAS find-installer search, which also explains the certificate of compliance you should receive [4]. For sweeping, look for a NACS member on the association's find-a-sweep search and ask for the certificate of sweeping, which doubles as your fire-safety and insurance record [5]. Roofing memberships work the same way: Confederation of Roofing Contractors membership can be checked on its own member pages, while claims stated only on a firm's own site cannot be checked anywhere, so weigh them accordingly.
Some chimney jobs need the council involved, so ask early. Removing a chimney breast or taking down a stack is structural work that needs Building Regulations approval through Telford and Wrekin's Building Control service, which inspects at key stages and issues a completion certificate worth keeping for a future sale [2]. New stoves, liners and flues must be notified too, either by a competent-person scheme member such as a HETAS installer or directly to the council [4]. Get the completion certificate before you make the final payment [2].
Telford's heritage streets add a planning layer. The borough has eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge, where you can need permission for work that needs none elsewhere, and inside the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site an Article 4 direction removes some permitted development rights from ordinary houses [3]. If your stack stands in Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Jackfield or the Gorge, or on a listed building anywhere, talk to the council's pre-application advice service before anyone orders materials [3].
The town's housing stock tells you what to expect. Wellington, Dawley and Madeley hold rows of Victorian and Edwardian terraces with tall stacks whose mortar and soft brick suffer first, so ask what mortar the firm will use and why it suits your brick. Lawley and the newer estates hold plenty of disused flues, which should be vented and capped rather than sealed solid, or trapped condensation rots the stack from inside and stains the breast below. Ask what vent and cap the quote includes for any redundant pot. Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale cottages pair age with protection, so consent comes before scaffolding there.
Finish with paperwork, and know where to turn if it goes wrong. You should hold an itemised invoice, a written guarantee, and for stove or liner jobs the HETAS certificate of compliance with its notice plate and a carbon monoxide alarm fitted [4]; where building approval applied, the completion certificate [2]. Photograph every stage and pay the balance only when the finished work matches the written scope. If the firm stops answering or the work fails, Citizens Advice sets out your consumer options and template letters for putting it right [6].
Pricing
As of spring 2026, repointing is the commonest chimney job: Checkatrade's estimator-checked guide puts a full repoint at £300–£1,000 per project, averaging £750 [1]. Small stacks on low roofs sit at the bottom of that range and tall stacks needing scaffolding over the ridge sit at the top. Look for mortar joints hollowed out, crumbling or falling into the gutter as the sign the time has come, since sound pointing keeps water out of the brickwork for years.
Lead flashing, the usual suspect behind damp patches on the breast, runs £250–£1,000 depending on whether sound lead can be patched or all four sides need replacing, since leadwork is skilled, slow and priced with the access included [1]. A simple patch with no scaffolding comes in around £250, while a full replacement with scaffold reaches about £1,000 [1].
Smaller fittings cost less: fitting a cap runs £180–£520, replacing a flue liner comes in around £250 per metre supplied and fitted, and replacing slipped tiles to stop a leak runs £170–£500 [1]. These are the jobs where a tower rather than full scaffold can keep the access line down. A liner matters most where an old flue serves a new stove, since cracked brickwork lets fumes and heat escape into the house, and the per-metre rate means tall stacks cost proportionally more.
Removing a stack altogether runs £260–£340 per metre, or around £1,800 as a total project [1]. Taking out the breast below the roof is a bigger structural job needing support works and building approval, so treat any removal quote with suspicion unless it names the support, the making-good and the approval explicitly. On a semi or terrace, allow for a party-wall agreement with the neighbour as well, which adds time if not money.
Access moves every price above: scaffolding is routinely the biggest line on the bill, and height, stack condition and how long a leak has run all push the figure up [1]. Checkatrade's ranges are quoted plus VAT, so ask whether your quote adds it on top [1]. Whatever the job, get the scope, the scaffold, the materials, the VAT position and the guarantee in writing before work starts, and never accept a single fixed figure with no breakdown behind it.
Red flags
Quotes for stack work without inspecting the chimney up close or asking for close-up photos of the fault.
Cannot name a checkable membership or registration number for the scheme claimed on the quote or website [4].
Offers one fixed price with no split between labour, materials, access and VAT [1].
Wants full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms.
Plans structural removal or breast work with no mention of Building Regulations approval [2].
Proposes sealing a disused flue solid instead of venting and capping it.
Replaces failed lead flashing with a mortar fillet or tape as the whole fix.
Will not put the scope, price, start date and guarantee in writing before starting.
Leaves no completion certificate, compliance certificate or written guarantee at sign-off [2] [4].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.