How to hire
Damp is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and the fix follows the cause. Rising damp climbs from the ground into ground-floor walls, penetrating damp pushes through roofs and walls where pointing, render or gutters have failed, and condensation from cooking, showers and drying clothes feeds the black mould in corners and behind furniture. Telford's mix makes all three common: Victorian terraces in Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, stone cottages around Ironbridge, interwar semis across the town, and newer estates in Lawley where extractor fans and trickle vents do the quiet work. Getting the diagnosis right matters most, since the wrong treatment wastes the whole fee [2].
If you rent, the damp is your landlord's problem to fix, not yours. Report it promptly with dated photos, and give the landlord a fair chance to investigate and put it right. Telford and Wrekin Council's damp and mould pages set out the signs to look for and the steps for tenants and landlords, plus where the council can step in over unsatisfactory conditions [5]. National guidance expects damp and mould to be tackled at the underlying cause, promptly, whatever the tenure [8]. Keep copies of every report you send.
Check the map before planning external work. Telford and Wrekin holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington, Newport and the Severn Gorge, and Ironbridge sits inside a World Heritage Site with extra controls over how homes look [6]. Repointing, render, replacement air bricks or anything changing the face of a house in these streets can need consent when the same job elsewhere would not. Ask the council's pre-application advice service where you stand before signing a contract, and make sure the contractor prices for like-for-like materials where the rules demand them.
First contact is a conversation, not a commitment. Describe which walls and which floor, when the patch shows and what it looks like, and send photos of the stain, the skirting and the outside of the same wall. Each firm in this round starts free — a survey, an assessment or a quote — so use that visit well: ask who will attend, what the survey covers, and whether you get moisture readings and findings set down afterwards. A paid independent survey, typically around three hundred pounds, buys a diagnosis from someone with nothing to sell you [1]. Only accept injection treatment for rising damp once someone has checked gutters, ground levels and ventilation as well as the wall [2].
Then check the firm's paper. Damp proofing has no mandatory register, so there is no licence number to demand — instead search the Property Care Association member finder for damp specialists working near Telford, and check whether the firm appears on TrustMark for the trade you need [3] [4]. Review platforms and manufacturer approvals are useful but different: they show customers were happy, not that a body audited the work. Where a firm claims a maker's approval, confirm with the maker what it covers, and match the trading name, address and phone across the website, the listing and the Companies House record.
Get two or three quotes on the same written scope and compare them line by line. Each quote should show how many metres of wall are treated, the injection work and the replastering priced apart, which materials are used, what making-good is included, how long drying takes before redecorating, and the guarantee length with the name of whoever backs it. It should state whether VAT sits on top and set stage payments rather than full payment up front. Where quotes differ wildly, the scope usually differs too — the lowest treatment-only price next to an all-in price is not a comparison.
Plan for disruption before it starts. Rooms being injected and replastered need clearing, furniture needs covering, and drying takes weeks rather than days — agree what you can use and when. Terraced streets in Wellington and Dawley can make parking and waste removal awkward, so settle access, working hours and who takes the old plaster away. Timber treatment brings strong smells and needs ventilation, so ask how long rooms stay out of use. Agree all of it before the tools come out, and keep the agreed dates with the quote.
At sign-off, collect the file that protects you: the survey report, the itemised invoice, dated photos, and the written guarantee certificate showing its length and who backs it if the firm closes. Check the walls read dry on the meter before you pay the balance, and keep every document with the house papers — a future buyer will ask. If you rent, send copies to the landlord or agent the same week. If a fault appears inside the guarantee period, go back to the firm first with the certificate in hand; if that stalls, Citizens Advice sets out your consumer options [7].
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, a standalone damp survey typically costs around £300, within a national span of £100–£600 depending on property size [1]. Injection treatment for rising damp — the commonest fix — generally lands between £1,000 and £3,000 for the treated area, or roughly £60–£200 per metre of wall [1]. A single affected wall can therefore cost well under a thousand all in, while a whole house runs higher. Treat every figure here as a planning guide, not a quote.
Bigger jobs carry bigger numbers. Retrofitting a physical damp proof course runs £2,500–£7,500, and tanking a cellar or basement costs around £100–£200 per square metre [1]. Timber and rot work sits alongside: expect replastering, joinery and redecoration to rival the treatment itself on the final bill, since treatment prices routinely exclude making good, finishes and drying out [1]. Condensation fixes are usually cheapest — ventilation and extractor fans rather than chemicals — which is one more reason the diagnosis comes first [2].
What moves the price is the wall run first: injection is priced by the metre, so one internal wall costs a fraction of a whole house. Wall construction matters next — thick solid brick needs deeper drilling than a cavity wall — along with access and scaffolding for external repairs, how much plaster comes off, and whether skips, joinery or redecoration sit inside the quote. Compare scopes rather than headline totals, because a treatment-only price next to an all-in price is not a comparison. Get the scaffolding, skip and redecoration lines shown separately wherever they apply.
VAT and paper come last. Confirm whether each quote includes VAT or adds it on top, since guide prices and contractor quotes do not always match on this. What must be set down: the exact scope in metres and rooms, treatment and replastering priced apart, the guarantee length and backer, stage payments, start and finish dates, and what happens to the price if opening up reveals worse damage. Pay by card or transfer where you can, and keep the quote, invoice, guarantee and photos together. A quote that hides the guarantee backer or merges treatment with plastering into one line deserves a question before a signature.
Red flags
Quotes injection treatment without visiting or seeing clear photos of the affected walls.
Diagnoses rising damp from a single meter reading with no look at gutters, ground levels or ventilation.
Cannot name the firm behind the guarantee or show what backs it if the business closes.
Offers one fixed price for a whole house with no split between treatment, replastering and VAT.
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms.
Starts work with no written scope, price, start date or drying times.
Claims membership of a trade body you cannot find on that body's own finder.
Dismisses replastering and redecoration as extras with no explanation of salt contamination.
Refuses to set down the survey findings or leaves no report behind.