How we chose
We started from the fireplace specialists Google Maps shows across Telford, then matched each at Companies House and read its own website for services, areas and terms. Scheme memberships were sourced from the HETAS register and each firm's own website [1]. 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 for its fuel is in place [5]. Five 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 craft to the fuel first. A wood burner, multi-fuel stove, liner or chimney rebuild belongs to a solid-fuel installer on the HETAS register, while a gas fire belongs to an engineer on the Gas Safe Register, and neither ticket covers the other's work [1] [5]. Media walls and electric fires need no chimney at all but may still need an electrician for the supply. When you first enquire, state the fuel, whether you have a chimney, and which room the fire will heat. If your media wall hides cables and a television above the fire, say so, since clearances and heat shielding change the design.
Stove and liner work must meet the Building Regulations for combustion appliances, hearths, flues and chimneys [4]. A HETAS-registered installer self-certifies the job through its competent-person scheme, which means no council inspection visit and no building-control fee for you [1] [3]. Anyone else doing the work must apply to Telford and Wrekin building control instead, by full plans or building notice, and you should hold the completion certificate before paying the balance [8].
Ask about smoke control before you fall for a stove. In a smoke control area you cannot release smoke from a chimney and may burn only authorised fuel unless the appliance is Defra-exempt, with fixed penalties for getting it wrong [2]. Contact Telford and Wrekin environmental services to check your street, choose an exempt appliance or smokeless fuel to match, and use the survey visit to confirm the plan in writing. Approved appliances appear on the Defra list, which your installer should name by model, not by brand alone.
Heritage rules bite in parts of the borough. Telford and Wrekin holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge, and most of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site is a conservation area with an Article 4 direction that removes some permitted development rights [6] [7]. A new external flue, a raised stack or work to a listed cottage can need permission or listed-building consent, so ask the council's pre-application advice service early, and Gorge residents can use the free planning surgeries [6] [7].
Read your street before you brief the firm. The terraces of Wellington, Dawley and Madeley often hide a dormant chimney that needs sweeping, testing and lining before a stove goes in, while the newer estates around Lawley typically have no chimney at all and need a twin-wall flue run outside or through the house. Ironbridge cottages add tight access and heritage limits to the same decision. Send photos of the fireplace, the stack and the rooms above it with your enquiry, and take the free survey that Alpine, Grate Ideas and Stove Specialists UK offer.
Insist on a quote that names everything: the stove make, model and heat output, the liner diameter and length or the twin-wall route, the hearth size and material, any chamber or building work, and the labour, materials and VAT figures kept separate. It should also state the start date, how many days the job takes, how making-good and waste are handled, what scaffolding is needed, and the payment stages. A deposit for the stove at ordering is normal practice locally, while full payment before completion is not. Ask how long the quote stands, since stove prices and lead times move with the seasons.
Check the register entry yourself rather than trusting a logo. Type the exact business name into the HETAS Find Installer search and confirm the listing covers the work you are buying, and ask a gas engineer for the registration details and confirm them on the Gas Safe Register before anyone touches pipework [1] [5]. Membership of a council scheme such as Telford Trading Standards adds checks on trading practice behind the name but never replaces the fuel ticket. If a number will not check out, ask why before anyone lifts a tool.
End the job with paper, not promises. You should receive a HETAS certificate of compliance for a self-certified install or a council completion certificate where building control was involved, plus the written guarantee terms and the stove's care and fuel instructions [3] [8]. A carbon monoxide alarm belongs in the room with any solid-fuel appliance [4]. File the certificate with your house papers, since buyers and remortgage lenders ask for it, and only then pay the balance. Photograph the data plate and the certificate for your records in case either fades.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, rough Telford ranges run like this. Fitting a stove into an existing fireplace with a new liner in the existing chimney averages around £1,150 in labour, while the stove itself averages around £950, putting a typical supply-and-install project near £3,000 [9]. A Which? survey with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found the largest group of owners spent between £1,001 and £2,000 all in, though its calculated top-end cases approached £5,000 once complex flues and finishes were included [10]. London and South East prices run higher, so Telford quotes often land below these national averages.
Forming a new fireplace and hearth costs more because of the building work: around £900 where the flue already serves, £1,500 with a new liner in the chimney, and £3,000 with an external twin-wall system [9]. Expect two or three extra days on site for the masonry, hearth and making-good, plus a skip or waste run on top of the install price. Listed or conservation-area homes may need extra detailing around the flashing and stack, which the survey should price separately.
Homes with no chimney at all need the twin-wall route, which averages £2,550 fitted to an existing fireplace opening [9]. Stove size moves every figure: the survey calculations centre on a standard mid-size appliance, and larger outputs for open-plan rooms cost more to buy and to flue [10]. Chimney sweeping, CCTV inspection and a new cowl sit outside these ranges, so ask for them as separate lines. A new hearth, chamber lining or replacement cowl each adds its own line, which is why twin-wall quotes vary so widely.
Access and condition move the price most: a tall stack needing scaffold, a tight liner route, parking for a van load of materials, and a chamber that needs rebuilding all add up. Published guides exclude VAT, so ask whether your quote adds it on top [9]. Get the scope, the VAT position, the guarantee and the certificate named in writing before work starts, and treat any single fixed price for a big job with no breakdown as a question rather than an answer. Scaffold hire for a tall stack and parking near tight streets can also appear as extras.
Red flags
Quotes a stove or liner install without visiting or asking for photos and measurements of the fireplace, flue and stack.
Cannot give a HETAS business name you can find yourself on the HETAS Find Installer search [1].
Touches gas pipework or gas fires without a Gas Safe registration you can check [5].
Starts work on a verbal figure with no written scope naming the stove, flue, hearth and price.
Asks for full payment in cash before the stove is fitted and certified.
Says building-regulations sign-off is unnecessary for a new stove or liner [3] [4].
Fits a wood burner for a smoke control street with no exempt appliance or authorised fuel in the plan [2].
Leaves no certificate of compliance or completion paperwork at sign-off [3] [8].
Will not put the start date, price and guarantee terms in writing before lifting a tool.
The bottom line
For most Telford homes with a wood burner or chimney job in mind, start with Alpine Fireplace and Chimney Solutions: one specialist from free survey to certified sign-off, with Trading Standards registration behind the name.
If an AGA or range cooker shares the brief with the stove, make Multifuel Cooking and Heating your first call, and use its appointment form to line up cooker servicing with the stove survey. If you want to compare fires working in person before deciding, visit Grate Ideas or Drayton Stoves first, and use the free home survey to test the advice against your rooms.
For a packaged supply-and-fit price with free quotes and surveys, put Stove Specialists UK on the shortlist. Whichever you shortlist, get two itemised quotes on the same written scope, check the HETAS or Gas Safe entry yourself, and hold the certificate in your hand before you pay the balance. That paper trail turns a warm showroom promise into a stove you can light with confidence.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.