How we chose
We researched twelve conservatory and glazing firms across the Telford area, reading each firm's own website for services, areas and terms, matching each at Companies House, sourcing scheme memberships from the FENSA and CERTASS registers alongside company and consumer platforms, and recording public review snapshots [1] [2] [3]. Each business first had to meet our eligibility requirements: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and its paperwork matches the work it does. Five firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, then qualifications, then trading history and stated cover, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated 4 September 2026.
How to hire
Match the firm to your job before you compare anyone. A conservatory installer designs and builds the whole structure, base included. A repair specialist fixes locks, hinges and misted units within your existing frames. A glazier replaces broken panes and cuts glass to size. A roof-upgrade firm reinsulates or re-roofs the conservatory you already own. Shortlist only firms whose everyday trade matches your brief, and this ranking's best-for lines tell you which is which.
Check planning before you sign anything. A conservatory falls under the same rules as any other house extension, and permitted development rights let you build without applying where strict limits on size, height and position are met [4]. Those limits add your new plans to any earlier extensions, and some homes carry conditions that remove the rights altogether. If your design exceeds them, expect a householder planning application, and where the new floor space is large a community levy may apply. Ask Telford and Wrekin Council where you stand.
Check competence on the registers, not on the van. Any firm replacing your windows or doors should hold FENSA or CERTASS registration, which lets it self-certify the work under the building regulations instead of sending you to building control [3]. Search the FENSA installer search or the CERTASS member listings by business name and registration number, and check the name that comes back matches the firm at your door [1] [2]. A FENSA installation brings you a certificate proving the work complies, is registered with the council and carries guarantee insurance [1]. Repair-only and glazing-only trades need no such registration, so judge them on reviews, history and paperwork instead.
Get itemised written quotes on one identical scope from your shortlist. Each quote should separate labour, materials, groundwork and preparation, disposal, and design and planning, since that is where rival figures quietly differ [5]. It should name the frame system, roof and glazing specification, base and drainage, electrics, start date, access needs and how making good is handled. Ask whether VAT sits inside or on top, and treat any single fixed figure for a full build with no breakdown as a question rather than an answer.
Agree money and guarantees before work starts. A deposit for made-to-order frames is normal; most of the price should fall due on completion, and cash in full up front is never the pattern to accept. For a full installation, expect a written product guarantee and ask whether an insurance-backed guarantee stands behind it, so your cover survives even if the firm does not. If anything goes wrong afterwards, Citizens Advice publishes consumer guidance and template letters for putting it right [6].
Collect the right paperwork at the end and file it with your house papers. Replacement glazing should bring its FENSA or CERTASS completion certificate, registered with the council [1] [2]. The whole build should leave you with the itemised quote, the invoice, the written guarantees and any planning or building-control letters. A future buyer or surveyor will ask for these, so do not pay the final balance until every document is in your hands and the details on them match the firm you hired.
Telford and Wrekin adds local wrinkles worth checking early. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge around Ironbridge, and the Gorge carries an Article 4 Direction that removes planning freedoms other streets keep [7]. A home in or beside one of these areas can need permission for work that sails through elsewhere, so name your street in your first message and use the council's pre-application advice service where the answer is unclear [7]. Listed buildings face stricter consent of their own [4].
A typical full build runs through the same stages whatever firm you choose. First contact means photos, measurements and a site visit, since groundwork and access cannot be priced blind. Then comes the itemised quote on your identical scope, a deposit for made-to-order frames, then a manufacturing wait. Base and drainage work comes first on site, then frames, roof and glazing, then electrics and finishing, with a walk-round before the balance changes hands. Repairs and reglazes compress this into fewer visits: describe the fault with photos, agree the fix and its price, and keep the guarantee note with the invoice.
When the quotes land, compare them line by line rather than headline against headline: one firm prices electrics and flooring inside the build while another lists them as extras, and that choice alone explains most gaps. Pin the start date, the working hours, who clears waste and who notifies building control where needed, since swapping a conservatory roof for solid tile can bring the building regulations into play [8]. Expect the FENSA or CERTASS certificate to follow the installation rather than arrive on the day, and chase it if it does not come [1] [2]. Keep every quote version, the invoice and the guarantee papers together, because a future buyer will read them as the room's history.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, a Checkatrade cost guide built from trader prices puts a standard uPVC conservatory measuring three and a half metres square at roughly nine thousand to eleven and a half thousand pounds as a lean-to, ten and a half to twelve thousand as an Edwardian, and twelve to thirteen and a half thousand as a Victorian, with timber frames higher in each style [5]. Treat these as planning figures for the structure alone: your site, your specification and your shortlist will move the final quote.
What moves the price most is the combination of size, style, roof type, frame material and glazing, plus whatever the ground demands before a frame goes up [5]. Dwarf-wall bases, drainage and awkward access add labour, while extras such as electrics, underfloor heating, blinds and finished flooring stack up quickly and often sit outside the headline build price. A solid tiled roof costs more than glass or polycarbonate but is the change that makes a conservatory usable through winter. Ask each firm to price the same extras so the quotes stay comparable.
Ask whether VAT sits inside or on top of every figure, since published ranges rarely spell it out. The repair, glazing and roof-upgrade specialists in this round publish no rates at all, so for locks, misted units, emergency panes and roof conversions the quote does the talking: describe the fault with photos, ask what the call-out or survey costs, and get the fix and its guarantee itemised before you agree. Whatever the job, keep the written scope, the quote and the invoice together [5].
A roof upgrade is the next most quoted job in this round. A Checkatrade guide built from trader prices and updated in March 2026 puts a full replacement at around £10,000 typically, with smaller polycarbonate roofs near £6,300 and large glass roofs past £18,225 [8]. Polycarbonate costs least, while glass and solid tiled roofs cost more but make the room usable through winter, and structural strengthening, insulation needs and awkward access all push the figure higher [8].
Smaller jobs price differently. Replacing a misted sealed unit averages £250 per unit within a £225 to £275 band, with openers costing more than fixed panes, and a Checkatrade guide updated in May 2026 says to check your warranty paperwork first since defective units may go back free [9]. Emergency glazing has no published guide price in this round, so the call-out sets the figure: pane size, safety glass, out-of-hours attendance and access decide it.
Red flags
Quotes a full new conservatory without visiting, measuring or asking for photos of the site and access.
Cannot give a FENSA or CERTASS registration number you can check yourself for replacement window and door work [1] [2].
Hands over one fixed figure for a whole build with no breakdown of labour, materials, groundwork and VAT [5].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote, stages or terms.
Finishes replacement glazing with no completion certificate and no mention of council registration [1].
Offers a long product guarantee with nothing in writing and no insurance-backed cover behind it.
Presses you to sign on the day for a discount that vanishes if you take time to compare.
Offers a solid or tiled roof conversion with no mention of building-regulations sign-off [8].
Prices a repair without seeing photos or the window, then revises the figure on the doorstep.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.