How we chose
We started from the loft conversion firms the local listings show across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the building-trade registers, each firm's own website and platforms such as Checkatrade and Which? Trusted Traders [6] [7]. 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. One firm met all three. What customers say counts most toward the score, 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 conversion to the roof before you fall for a design. A rooflight room keeps the existing shape and suits a loft with headroom to spare, while dormer and hip-to-gable designs carve out floor space at greater cost, and a mansard rebuilds the slope entirely at the top of the market [3]. Roof shape and structure decide more than taste, so invite the opinion before you fix the plan. Walk the loft with a tape and note where you can stand upright.
Most Telford lofts convert without a planning application, under permitted development, but the limits are exact: the added volume must stay within the allowance for your house type, the ridge cannot rise, front dormers facing the road are out, and balconies always need permission [4]. Some streets carry stricter rules, so check with the council planning desk before you sign anything, and keep the answer in an email you can find later [8]. Where the limits are exceeded, a householder application follows instead [4].
Building regulations always apply once the loft becomes a room to live in. They cover the strength of the new floor, the stairs, escape from fire and sound insulation between the conversion and the rooms below, and a building control body, usually the council, inspects the work in stages [5]. On a semi or terrace you must also warn the neighbours under the Party Wall Act before touching a shared wall, which is separate law with its own notices [5]. Name the building control body in your first enquiry.
Loft conversion has no mandatory register, so memberships are voluntary proof rather than licences to trade. The Federation of Master Builders inspects members before they join and runs a check-a-member tool, while TrustMark, the government-endorsed scheme, lets you search its register for your trade [6] [7]. Industry qualifications for the listed firm could not be sourced from any register, website or platform checked, so treat the paper trail as your job: ask for insurance details and two recent local loft jobs you can verify.
Take three quotes on the same written scope so the totals compare like with like [7]. Each quote should split labour, materials and VAT, and name the stairs, electrics, plastering, scaffolding, drawings and building control fees with a start date and payment stages; a deposit for materials is normal, while full payment before the staircase goes in is not. Hold a contingency for what the opened roof reveals, since older timbers often need more strengthening than the first visit suggests [3].
Use a written contract that states the work, the price and the dates, and agree any change in writing as you go [7]. At the end, collect the completion certificate from building control, the structural calculations and any written guarantee, and file them with your house papers for the day you sell. If a fault appears, put it in writing with photos and a deadline before you release the last payment [9].
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, national guides put a typical thirty-square-metre conversion at around £27,500 for a Velux rooflight room, £50,000 for a dormer, £60,000 for a hip-to-gable and £65,000 for a mansard, with most homeowners spending in the region of £50,000 [3]. Timings run four to six weeks for the simplest rooms and eight to twelve for dormers and mansards [3]. The listed Telford firm's own bands sit lower, from around £15,000–£20,000 for a Velux through £30,000–£60,000 for a dormer and £40,000–£65,000 for a hip-to-gable to £45,000–£70,000 for a mansard [1].
Structure moves the price most: steelwork, stairs, roof alterations and scaffolding dominate, with electrics, plumbing, plastering, drawings and building control fees behind them [3]. Size, roof shape, an ensuite, the finish you choose and awkward access for the scaffolding all add or subtract. Treat any quote far from both sets of bands as a question about scope, not a bargain.
Treat VAT as a question, not an assumption: published guides differ on whether their figures include it, so check whether your quote holds VAT inside or adds it on top [3]. Firms in this round publish example rates only through the one listed site, so a single fixed price for a conversion with no breakdown is a question rather than an answer. Compare itemised quotes against each other, never a bare total against a band.
Get the scope into a written document before work starts: which rooms, which stairs, which finishes and making-good are included, which certificates you will receive, and what changes the price if the opened roof hides worse than expected. Agree payment stages tied to inspected milestones, and keep every quote, invoice and certificate together [9].
Red flags
Quotes a conversion without visiting the loft or asking for measurements and photos of the roof structure.
Starts structural work with no building control body named and no staged inspections agreed [5].
Shows no engineer's drawings or calculations for the steelwork carrying the new floor.
Plans work to a shared wall on a semi or terrace with no written word to the neighbours [5].
Gives one fixed price with no split between structure, stairs, electrics, plastering and finishes.
Wants full payment in cash before the staircase goes in, with no written terms [9].
Hands over the room with no completion certificate and no written guarantee to file away.
The bottom line
For most Telford homeowners, start with Elite Loft Conversions: a specialist with a dedicated Telford page, rough prices on show and a free quote by email. Ask for proof of cover, company detail and recent references with your enquiry, since reviews live nowhere public and insurance goes unstated.
Match the design to the roof: a rooflight room where headroom already serves, a dormer where floor space needs stretching, a mansard where the budget runs to major surgery. Then take two further quotes on the same written scope, and agree the completion paperwork before anyone lifts a tile, keeping every paper until the certificate lands.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.