How we chose
We started from two dozen flooring firms found across Telford on the map. Scheme memberships were sourced from the flooring trade directories, each firm's own website and established review platforms [1] [2]. 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. Ten firms met all three. What customers say counts most toward the score — the star rating itself, since beyond a small handful of reviews volume adds nothing — 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 fitter to the floor first. Carpet shops live on measuring, underlay and tidy joins around doors and stairs, while hard-floor specialists live on level subfloors, expansion gaps and trims. Wood and glue-down vinyl punish a wavy base that click-fit laminate might forgive, so say which rooms, which material and what sits underneath today — boards, screed or old tiles — in your first enquiry, with rough room sizes if you have them.
Flooring has no legal register, so there is no licence number to demand the way there is for gas or electrics. Instead search the Contract Flooring Association directory and the NICF directory of fitters for the business name, trying county and postcode, and treat maker-approved badges as retailer statuses stated by the firm rather than independent vetting [1] [2]. TrustMark lists firms that have passed checks on trading practices as well as competence [8]. Check the listing yourself rather than trusting a logo on a van.
Take the free measure most Telford shops offer, and use the visit. Ask the surveyor to check the subfloor for flatness and damp, especially on concrete and new screed, and to confirm what happens to skirting, doors that need trimming and radiators that need lifting. Get samples home in daylight before you choose a shade, and agree who moves furniture and what the stairs add — staircases are slow, fiddly work that costs more than a plain room.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same written scope so you compare like with like [5] [6]. Each should name the material range and colour, the underlay grade, grippers, thresholds and beading, subfloor preparation, uplift and disposal of the old floor, labour and materials separately, the start date and how long the rooms are out of use, and payment stages — a deposit for materials is normal, full payment before completion is not.
Confirm cover and waste before anyone lifts a tool. Ask what public liability insurance the fitter holds and check the dates cover your job, and agree who takes the old flooring away — any firm carrying waste must hold a waste carrier registration you can check on the public register, with a transfer note or invoice describing the waste [7]. A trustworthy trader shares these papers without a fuss [6].
Finish with paperwork you can file. Keep the itemised invoice, the manufacturer guarantees for the materials and the fitter's own workmanship guarantee with its length and cover in writing, plus any floor-care guides for wood or vinyl [6]. Note snags while the fitter is still on site and agree the fix date in writing. Firms can send a response after a page is published and we print it alongside the assessment.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, laminate sets the benchmark: a March 2026 Checkatrade guide averages supply and fit at about £60 per square metre, with materials £20–£60, fitting £15–£40 per square metre or £240–£300 a day, and single rooms around £300–£600 with underlay at £5–£10 per square metre [4].
Carpet runs on the material. Which? priced three major retailers in November 2025, VAT included: synthetics from under £5 per square metre, polypropylene from £10, polyester near £25 and wool from £30, with underlay £3–£11 per square metre on top of fitting [3]. For context, one Wellington shop advertises a whole house in carpet up to eighty square metres at £650 including fitting — the only fitted price published anywhere in this round.
Preparation moves the price most. Latex levelling over an uneven slab, uplift and disposal of the old floor, furniture moving, door trimming, stairs and alcoves, and glue-down vinyl over click-fit all add labour, and Telford usually sits below London and South East prices. Ask which of these your survey found, and get each priced as a line, not a shrug.
Ask whether VAT sits inside or on top of every figure, since trade talk mixes the two — the Which? material prices above include it [3]. Almost no Telford fitter publishes rates, so your quotes do the talking: get the scope, the guarantee length and what changes the price if the subfloor is worse than expected all in writing before work starts [6].
Red flags
Prices a whole house of flooring without measuring a single room.
Names no material range, maker, underlay grade or fitting method on the written quote.
Plans to lay laminate or glue-down vinyl over a visibly uneven floor with no preparation priced in.
Offers to take the old flooring away but shows no waste carrier registration you can check [7].
Asks for full payment in cash before the fitting date, with no written terms [6].
Will not say who actually does the fitting or put the arrangement in writing.
Promises a guarantee but puts no length, cover or exclusions in writing [6].
The bottom line
For most Telford homes, start with Shropshire Oak: named maker ranges, a showroom to stand in, and a free survey before you commit. If carpet leads the job rather than wood or vinyl, put All Floors 'n' Rugs and Wellington Carpets on the same shortlist and compare their quotes on identical rooms.
Match the firm to the job from there: Floors 2 Go for browsing online before a home measure, K D Smith for Madeley and the south of the borough, Tapi for retail-park convenience with booked visits. Then get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope, and check the guarantee and the VAT line before you agree anything.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.