How we chose
We built the candidate list from map searches for landscaping across Telford, matched each firm against Companies House records and its own website, and sourced scheme memberships from the BALI member directory, the TrustMark and Federation of Master Builders registers and the Environment Agency waste carrier register [8][1][2][3]. Before scoring, each business must 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 and form the ranked table. We looked first at what customers say; qualifications count next, followed by trading history, cover, pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Start by matching the firm to the job. A maintenance round of mowing, hedges and tidies belongs with a gardener, while patios, paths, turfing, fencing, drainage and planting schemes delivered as one project belong with a landscape gardener. Brief the outcome rather than the method: how you use the garden, who needs level access, where water sits after rain, and which boundaries are yours. Ask whether you get a scaled drawing before work starts, and who manages groundworks and drainage if subcontractors are involved.
No single licence covers landscaping, so check competence the way you would a builder's. The British Association of Landscape Industries keeps a searchable directory of accredited landscapers where you can look up a business by name [8]. TrustMark registration points to checks on trading practices as well as competence [1], and Federation of Master Builders membership is worth asking about for structural work [2]. Where trees are involved, ask for the training behind the chainsaw, such as the certificates one Ketley firm states on its own site.
Check the waste position yourself, because every clearance creates soil and green waste that must go somewhere. Type the business name into the Environment Agency's waste carriers search and check the name and address on the registration match the firm on your quote [3]. Most landscapers price removal into the job and carry it under their own registration; if you are clearing the site yourself, agree in writing who moves what and when.
Ask for public liability insurance with the limit shown in writing, and check the dates cover your job. A stated figure on a website is a start, not proof: ask to see the certificate. For anything structural, such as retaining walls above knee height or drainage that joins the mains, ask who takes responsibility if it moves or fails, and visit one finished local project or study dated photos before you pay a deposit.
Compare at least two itemised written quotes that split labour, materials, plant stock and sizes, waste removal and VAT on the same written scope. A deposit for materials is normal, staged payments tied to visible milestones are normal, and full payment upfront is not. Agree start and finish dates, daily hours, material storage and access, and get the aftercare position in writing: which plants are covered, for how long, and who decides. Citizens Advice explains what a sound quote should contain [5].
Confirm who checks permissions before the digger arrives: most patios and paths need none, but work near boundaries, protected trees and the conservation streets around the Ironbridge Gorge can trigger council rules, so check Telford and Wrekin's planning pages first [6]. At the end, collect the written contract, the itemised invoice, any plant guarantee terms and completion-day photos of new planting, and keep every message, quote and receipt until the snagging is finished.
Telford and Wrekin adds a few local wrinkles. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including the Severn Gorge and Wellington, and the Gorge carries extra controls over minor changes that could affect its historic character [9]. Works to trees in a conservation area, including pruning, need six weeks' notice to the council so it can consider whether the tree needs a preservation order [9]. Most patios and paths elsewhere need no permission, but anything near a boundary, a protected tree or a Gorge street deserves a check of the council's planning pages before the digger arrives [6]. The cards reflect Telford's spread, from a Wellington listing, a Ketley base and a Donnington phone to Gorge-side rounds and Dawley directory entries.
A typical job runs in a clear order. First contact is a call or an enquiry form with photos and rough measurements of the space, plus how you use the garden and where water sits after rain. The firm then visits, walks the ground, checks access for machinery and skips, and talks through materials and planting. What follows should be a written scope with fixed dates, daily hours and a staged-payment plan, plus a scaled drawing for anything structural. During the build, expect soil and offcuts managed daily rather than piled up, and at the end a joint walk-round where every snag is listed with a date for its return visit.
A written quote earns its keep in the detail: materials named by type and size rather than stone or turf, plant stock with pot sizes and numbers, the waste method with the carrier name, VAT shown separately, and the exclusions spelled out, from soil disposal beyond a stated load to drainage extras and return visits. Ask for the day rate that applies if you add work mid-job, and check the payment stages attach to visible milestones rather than calendar dates [5].
Pricing
Rough Telford ranges as of summer 2026, taken from a national cost guide updated in June: real-grass turfing around £12 to £30 per square metre; artificial grass £25 to £60 fitted; flagstone paving £65 to £80 per square metre including base, supply and installation; decking £50 to £120 excluding handrails; and whole garden projects anywhere from a few hundred pounds for a refresh to a few thousand for a full makeover [7]. Treat each figure as a ballpark, then get local quotes.
Ground conditions move the price most: clay to dig out, poor access for machinery, soil and hardcore removal, drainage runs, levelling and the choice of stone. A typical twenty-square-metre patio takes several days to lay, so labour is a large share of any hard-landscaping price [7]. Slopes, terracing and retaining work add more still, as does planting in larger stock sizes.
Ask whether VAT sits on top of the quoted figures, since published guides vary in how they state it [7]. None of the firms in this round publishes example rates, so treat any single fixed price for a large job with no breakdown as a question rather than an answer. An outlier far above or below the rest usually means something is included or excluded, so ask what.
Get the scope in writing before work starts: exactly which areas, materials and plant numbers are included, how waste leaves the site, the staged-payment schedule with start and finish dates, and the aftercare terms for turf and planting. Agree what changes the price if the firm finds worse ground than expected, and keep every quote, invoice and receipt together [5].
Slopes and levels carry their own figures in the same guide: levelling sits near £20 to £120 per square metre, and a ten-metre terrace a metre deep comes in around £1,200 to £2,400, with the gradient, the chosen material and machinery access moving the figure [7]. Brickwork lands near £45 to £65 per square metre, while gravel is the budget finish at about £60 a bag, each bag covering a few square metres [7].
Timing and firm shape move quotes too. Spring diaries fill first, while autumn starts can suit both diary and planting [10]. A one-person care round prices a tidy differently from a firm bringing machinery and design in-house, so compare like with like on the same written scope. Where one quote lands far above or below the rest, the difference is usually something included or left out, so ask what it is before you sign.
Red flags
Prices a redesign or rebuild from photos alone, without walking the garden and checking access.
Asks for full payment upfront, or a deposit far beyond the materials it needs to order.
Cannot name the subcontractors behind the groundworks, drainage or electrics, or say who guarantees their part.
Shows no insurance detail and no finished local project you can visit or verify.
Quotes for soil and green-waste removal but shows no waste carrier registration you can check [3].
Gets vague about plants that die, snagging, and who returns when something moves or fails.
Will not put the scope, price, dates and aftercare in writing before taking a deposit [5].
Leaves soil, hardcore and cuttings heaped on the pavement or verge with no plan for their removal.
Starts digging before the written scope, price and dates are agreed and signed.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.