How we chose
We started from the groundworks firms Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the CHAS and Constructionline sites, the public waste carrier register, each firm’s own website and customer-review platforms [1] [8] [9] [12]. 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; ten make the ranked table. What customers say counts most toward the score, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded for 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. A groundworker owns digging, drainage, foundations, concreting and hard landscaping; a driveways specialist lives on block paving, tarmac and resin; a civil outfit suits roads, sewers and commercial plots. In this table Tradestone and Pavecraft fit domestic briefs, G N Groundworks and Butler fit commercial ones, and MSM Hire fits jobs where plant and grab hire folds into the groundworks. Describe your levels, access and soil before you ask for a price, and send photos of the site with the enquiry.
Sort permissions before you book. In Telford and Wrekin a new front driveway over five square metres of impermeable surfacing needs planning permission unless the water drains to a lawn or border, while permeable surfaces such as gravel or porous block paving need none [4]. Crossing the pavement needs its own approval: only the property owner can apply for a vehicle access, the council charges £273 for the application, and planning consent or proof of permitted development must come first [5]. Ask the council which route your street needs.
Check competence on the registers, not the van. Groundworks has no single mandatory licence, so look for what is checkable: TrustMark lists firms against its standards and you can search the business name on its site [7]. For commercial sites, CHAS and Constructionline pre-qualification show a contractor has passed a safety and compliance assessment [8] [12]. Anyone shifting spoil must sit on the public waste carrier register, which you can search free [9]. Site crews should hold CSCS cards for their trade and CPCS cards for plant [10] [11]. Ask for each detail and check it yourself.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same scope. A quote is a promise to do the work at the agreed price, so get it in writing and compare like with like [6]. Each quote should separate labour, materials, excavation depths, sub-base specification, drainage runs, spoil removal, skip hire and VAT, with start and finish dates. Where the ground is unknown, ask how extras are priced before they arise: a cheap lump sum that skips the sub-base sinks within a few seasons. Keep every version of the quote.
Check cover and money terms before anyone digs. Ask what public liability cover is in place and get the insurer and limit in writing, since most firms in this table publish nothing on the subject. Pay deposits by card or bank transfer, keep receipts, and hold back the balance until the work is signed off: Citizens Advice says not to pay everything up front in case the trader does not turn up [6]. If a deposit is required, check whether it is protected or held in escrow [6].
Agree the paperwork you will hold at the end. For extensions, building control must inspect trenches before concrete is poured, so ask who books the inspections and what happens if the ground needs deeper digging. Photograph drainage runs and levels before backfill, and keep the itemised invoice, the waste transfer paperwork and any written guarantee with its length and exclusions. Walk the finished levels after rain before you pay the balance, and report dangerous work to the council.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough Telford ranges run like this: a new driveway typically costs £60–£120 per square metre laid, with gravel at the low end of the range and resin-bound at the top [1]. A fifty square metre double drive in block paving lands around £5,500, while the groundworks element alone typically adds £20–£100 per square metre where digging and disposal run deep [1]. Treat every figure as a starting point, not a quote.
Patios span wider: manufactured slabs start near £65–£100 per square metre laid, while natural flagstone reaches £120–£475, and a typical twenty square metre patio takes three to four days with labour near £280 a day [2]. Foundations for extensions are priced by the linear metre: strip footings around £95–£115 machine-dug, trench-fill around £130–£160, with hand digging roughly doubling the rate where machines cannot reach [3].
Access and ground move the price most: narrow side entries force hand digging, clay and roots demand deeper trenches, and drainage adds hundreds where soakaways or linear channels go in [1] [3]. Dropped kerbs sit outside the driveway quote, so budget separately for the council’s approved route on top of the surfacing [5]. Ask whether each figure includes VAT or has it added, since guides and quotes mix the two [3] [6].
Get the scope in writing before work starts: exact areas, depths, materials, drainage falls, spoil disposal, start and finish dates, staged payments and the guarantee length [6]. Compare itemised quotes line by line rather than headline totals, and keep back a snagging sum until levels, falls and finishes are checked after rain.
Red flags
Quotes a driveway or patio without visiting, measuring, or asking for photos of levels and access.
Cannot say where spoil and old surfacing will go, or show a waste carrier registration you can check on the public register [9].
Starts digging for an extension before building control has seen the drawings and the trench.
Offers to drive over the pavement with no dropped kerb application to Telford & Wrekin Council in hand [5].
Gives one fixed price with no breakdown of labour, materials, excavation and VAT [6].
Asks for full payment in cash up front, with no written quote or terms [6].
Lays an impermeable front drive over five square metres with no drainage plan and no mention of permission [4].
The bottom line
For most Telford homes, start with Tradestone Construction: a builder with deep review evidence for driveways and patios, free quotations and a waste registration on the public register. Send photos of the area and ask for a written quote on the same scope you give every firm.
Match the firm to the job where the brief is unusual: GES for accredited driveway work, G N Groundworks for commercial sites that ask for safety paperwork, MSM Hire where plant and grab hire folds into the job, and Pavecraft for patios with a free site survey. For extensions and foundations, get the engineer’s drawings agreed before you compare itemised quotes line by line.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.