How we chose
We started from the twenty-one flat-roofing firms showing across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the Confederation of Roofing Contractors register, each firm's own website and platforms such as Checkatrade [1] [4]. 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. Eleven 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 early September 2026.
How to hire
Match the roofer to the roof first. A flat roof specialist owns rubber, fibreglass and felt systems, deck repairs, edge trims and flashings, which is different work from pitched tiling or leadwork, so say which system you have or want when you first enquire. Tell each firm the roof size, how many storeys high it sits, whether anyone walks on it and what symptom you see, from ponding water to blistered felt. A firm that quotes a full replacement off one photograph has not seen the deck underneath.
Check the registers that matter for this trade before you book. Search the Confederation of Roofing Contractors member pages for the business name and check the membership detail that comes back matches the firm you are hiring [1]. NFRC runs a trade member directory that lists current members only, and its site says that directory should be the main source of contractor verification [8]. TrustMark lists firms for work in or around the home that have passed its checks on standards and customer service, searchable by trade and area [5]. A logo on a van proves nothing on its own, so ask for the membership detail and check it yourself on the register.
Know where building-regulations sign-off fits. A roofer registered under the CompetentRoofer scheme can self-certify a roof covering replacement instead of you applying for approval, with the government page naming CompetentRoofer among the authorised schemes [2]. That contractor notifies the scheme and you receive a compliance certificate direct once the work is finished [4]. Ask who notifies what before work starts, and agree which certificate you will hold at the end, especially where insulation is being upgraded at the same time.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same written scope, so you compare like with like. Each quote should name the system and brand, the area in square metres, whether the deck and firrings are included or extra, scaffolding or tower access, how waste is removed, the start date and payment stages. A deposit for materials is normal, while full payment before completion is not. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain, and ask what is included or excluded [7].
Check waste and insurance in the same pass. Anyone carrying construction waste away must sit on the Environment Agency public register of waste carriers, which you can search by business name [6]. Ask for public liability cover details and, for larger jobs, a recent local reference you could verify. File every quote, invoice, certificate and guarantee with your house papers, since you will need them when you sell or claim.
On the day, check the crew protects paths and planting, strips back to sound timber and shows you photos of any rotten deck before charging for new boards. Agree how ponding, upstands and outlets are handled, since flat roofs fail at details rather than middles. Do not pay the balance until you hold the compliance certificate where one applies, the written guarantee with its length and terms, and an invoice matching the quoted scope [4].
Telford's roofs reflect how the town was built. The New Town designation stitched the market town of Wellington and older townships together with new low-density estates, so one street can mix interwar semis with much newer infill [13]. Across the borough the housing stock runs newer than the national picture, much of it on estates of detached and semi-detached houses, with newer developments out at Lawley and Lightmoor beside older centres such as Dawley and Madeley [14]. That mix is why the jobs vary: garage and extension re-roofs on the estates, older felt and awkward details around Wellington and the Gorge villages.
Two local rules catch flat-roof jobs here. The council says replacing more than a quarter of a roof may need building-control approval, with an insulation upgrade often required as part of the application [9]. Where new decking boards go down under replacement felt, an application and insulation to current standards follow as well [12]. And in the Ironbridge Gorge, an Article 4 direction brings any alteration to a roof under planning control where it fronts a highway, waterway or open space, so Gorge householders should check with the planning department before work starts [11].
A typical job runs in a fixed order. First contact states the system, size and symptoms; then a survey with the roofer up on the roof rather than a price off a photograph. Itemised quotes on the same written scope come next, then the register checks, the agreed start date and the access plan. The strip day settles what the quotes could not: the crew shows you the bare deck, and any rotten boards are agreed before they are charged. Sign-off closes the file with the certificates, the written guarantee and the completion paperwork in your hands, and the council recommends holding the completion certificate before the final payment leaves your account [10].
Pricing
As of summer 2026, rough UK ranges run like this: a flat roof replacement costs around sixty to one hundred and thirty pounds per square metre, supplied and fitted, sitting near ninety on a typical job [3]. Felt sits at the bottom of that band, rubber in the middle and fibreglass toward the top. A small garage of around fifteen square metres typically lands near twelve hundred to eighteen hundred pounds in felt, or sixteen hundred and fifty to two thousand seven hundred in rubber or fibreglass [3]. These are national guide figures; Telford usually sits below London and South East prices.
What moves the price most is the system, then the state of the timber deck and how the roof is reached. A two-storey roof needing scaffolding adds around fifteen to thirty-five pounds per square metre, and new timber for a rotten deck adds around twenty to forty-five [3]. Labour is usually the larger share at well over half the total, tilting further once scaffolding or a full strip joins in [3].
Ask whether the quote includes scaffolding, skip hire and VAT on top, since published ranges rarely hold all three in one figure. Firms in this round all offer quotes or quote forms but publish almost no example rates, so treat any single fixed price for a large roof with no breakdown as a question, not an answer. A repair to one small area with sound timber underneath is the sensible lower-cost choice; a roof near the end of its life wants a replacement figure instead [3].
Get the scope in writing before work starts: exactly which system and brand, the area covered, whether deck replacement is included or charged extra, which trims and flashings are new, how long the work takes, and what guarantee comes with it and who honours it. Agree payment stages and keep every quote, invoice and certificate together [7].
Garage re-roofs reward felt and a sound deck. Felt keeps the covering near the bottom of the band, and solid boards avoid the new-timber charge, so have the roofer lift and check before you agree to a full strip [3].
Extension and dormer roofs usually mean rubber or fibreglass. Rubber typically runs seventy to one hundred and ten pounds per square metre fitted, putting a twenty-square-metre roof near fourteen hundred to two thousand two hundred [3].
Once felt is bubbling or cracking into its second decade, price the replacement rather than another patch. The Midlands sits on the national average instead of the London uplift, so leave capital-city figures out of your budget [3].
Red flags
Quotes a full replacement without climbing up to inspect the roof or asking for photos of the deck, outlets and upstands.
Cannot give a trade-body membership detail you can check yourself on the issuing register [1].
Prices the job per square metre but will not say which system and brand that rate buys.
Adds a new layer over obvious ponding and rotten boards instead of pricing the deck repair honestly.
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms [7].
Has no answer on who carries the waste away or whether the carrier sits on the public register [6].
Will not put the scope, price, guarantee length and start date in writing before lifting a tool.
Will not say who notifies building control or which certificate lands with you when the work is done [9].
Prices full scaffolding for a single-storey garage roof that a tower would reach [3].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.