How we chose
We started from the twenty-one decking and landscaping firms Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the Federation of Master Builders and TrustMark registers, each firm's own website and platforms such as Checkatrade [5] [6]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Twelve firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Match the firm to the job first. Only three firms in the table name decking outright, while the rest are landscapers, pavers or builders with decking inside a wider brief, so read each service list against your plans before you call. Say whether your deck will sit at ground level or raised, give the rough length and width, and describe access for materials through the house or side gate. Photos of the garden, its levels and the old deck, if one exists, get you a far more accurate first answer.
Check whether your deck needs permission before anyone builds. Ground-level decking is normally permitted development, but anything more than thirty centimetres above the ground, anything covering more than half the garden with your other outbuildings, and anything in front of the house faces limits, with tighter rules around listed buildings [2]. Sloping Telford gardens often push decks above that height without owners realising. If yours will stand tall, contact Telford & Wrekin Council through the Planning Portal guidance first [2].
Check competence and paperwork first. Ask for the firm's waste carrier registration and search it on the Environment Agency public register yourself, since whoever clears boards, soil and hardcore must hold an upper-tier entry [3]. Where a firm states Checkatrade, Federation of Master Builders or TrustMark membership, ask for the member number and check it on the scheme site rather than trusting a logo on a van [5] [6]. Ask for insurance details in writing too, and for larger briefs a recent local reference you could verify.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same measurements that separate boards, frame and fixings, labour, waste clearance and VAT, so you compare like with like [1] [4]. Each quote should name the board material and brand, the frame specification, the start date, how uneven ground is handled, and payment stages, since a deposit for materials is normal while full payment before completion is not [4]. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain, and ask what is included or left out.
Pin down the materials in writing, because the board is only half the deck. Ask what timber treatment or composite brand is priced, what the frame and posts are made of, how the frame is fixed and drained, and what fixings will be used near soil and water. Untreated budget softwood at ground level rots fast in a damp Shropshire winter, so make the specification part of the quote. Agree who supplies the boards and who carries the guarantee if a board fails.
On the day, check the crew sets out levels and falls before fixing a single board, and agree how they will protect lawns, paths and neighbours' fences during the build. At the end, walk the finished deck together: boards evenly gapped, fixings flush, steps and rails firm, and offcuts and packaging cleared as quoted. File the quote, the invoice and the guarantee terms with your house papers, and hold the final payment until the snags are put right [4].
Telford and Wrekin adds local wrinkles. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge [14], and inside the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site an Article 4 Direction removes some permitted development rights that apply elsewhere, so Gorge households should check first [8]. The council gives free verbal advice on householder jobs plus written confirmation of whether permission is needed [9], and runs free planning surgeries for Gorge residents [8]. From the newer Lawley estates [15] to Dawley, agree access and parking for deliveries with each firm up front.
A typical job runs through the same stages whatever the firm. The first enquiry goes out with measurements, photos and the postcode, and the replies worth keeping arrive with a survey visit or a call that works through levels, access and board choice. Quotes follow on the same scope, and open questions get settled before anyone agrees a start date. During the build, agree how the crew reaches you with problems, especially with access through the house. The job closes with the joint walk-round and the paper file described below.
Close the paper file as carefully as the deck itself. The final invoice should match the quoted scope line for line, with any extras priced and agreed before they were built, and the guarantee terms should arrive with the board brand, the frame specification and the company details attached. Ask for the waste carrier details behind the clearance, since the council bulky service will not take soil, slabs or garden waste [10] and the green bin bars soil, rubble and timber [11]. That file is what the guarantee rests on.
Pricing
As of spring 2026, a national cost guide puts a medium deck of fifteen to thirty square metres at around £2,400 in treated softwood, £3,600 in hardwood and £3,000 in composite, supplied and fitted [1]. Per square metre, expect roughly £70 to £90 for softwood, £110 to £130 for hardwood and £90 to £110 for composite, with small decks costing more per metre and large decks less [1]. Installers charge around £260 to £340 a day, and most straightforward decks take a small crew one to two days [1].
Repairs and upkeep sit well below a rebuild: the same guide puts a light clean at £150 to £350 and staining or oiling at £350 to £800, which can add seasons to sound timber [1]. None of the twelve firms in this round publishes example rates, stopping at free quotes or a booked consultation, so treat the national figures as context and get local quotes. Only itemised quotes on your own measurements tell you where your job lands.
What moves the price most is the board, the size and the height. Composite boards cost more than softwood for the same area, hardwood sits dearest, and anything raised on posts costs more per square metre than a deck laid near the ground [1]. Sloping or soft ground needing levelling, long carries for materials through the house, and extras such as steps, railings and lighting all add on. Ground-level softwood with no rails is the lowest-cost route to a finished deck.
Ask whether each quote includes VAT or adds it on top, since published ranges may exclude it, and check what waste clearance covers [1] [4]. Get in writing the board brand and treatment, the frame specification, exactly which areas are decked, how offcuts and old materials leave the site, the start date, payment stages and the guarantee terms. Keep every quote, invoice and guarantee together for the final walk-round [4].
A raised deck with steps and rails is a different job from boards near the ground. Posts and beams replace the simple frame, and higher builds need a balustrade. An April 2026 guide puts raised builds roughly a third to three-fifths above ground-level cost, with timber rails near sixty to a hundred pounds per metre [13]. Height and access move the figure.
Lifting an old deck and clearing the site needs its own budget line. One 2026 guide puts removal and disposal between three hundred and a thousand pounds by size and access [12]. The council route helps little: the bulky service excludes soil, slabs and garden waste [10], and the green bin excludes soil, rubble and timber [11]. Price the clearance into the quote.
Red flags
Prices a deck without visiting or asking for measurements, photos, levels and how materials reach the garden.
Starts work on a raised deck with no mention of the thirty-centimetre planning rule or the council [2].
Cannot give a waste carrier registration you can check yourself on the Environment Agency register [3].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or payment terms [4].
Gives one fixed price with no breakdown of boards, frame, labour, waste clearance and VAT [1].
Names no board brand, timber treatment or frame specification, so you cannot compare quotes like with like.
Will not put the scope, price, start date and guarantee terms in writing before lifting a tool.
Dismisses permission questions for a raised deck inside the Gorge or a conservation area instead of checking with the council [8] [14].
Cannot say who will actually turn up to do the work, staff or subcontractors, or who carries the guarantee if a board fails.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.