How we chose
We started from the dozen wood flooring firms Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the CFA and NICF directories, each firm’s own website and platforms such as TrustMark [1] [2] [3]. 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. We looked first at what customers say, 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
Start by matching the supplier to the job. A flooring showroom with its own fitters owns the whole floor, from boards to beading, while a timber yard or merchant counter sells you boards and leaves fitting to you or your joiner, and a DIY shed suits confident self-layers with installation backup. Solid boards suit hallways and living rooms that take hard wear and can be sanded back, engineered boards cope better with kitchens and underfloor heating, and laminate and luxury vinyl give the look of wood where budget or moisture rules out the real thing. Say which rooms, which floor and what lies beneath when you first enquire.
Telford shapes the job in quiet ways. The town grew by joining older towns including Wellington, Dawley and Madeley to newer estates including Lawley, with the Ironbridge Gorge lying to the south [10] [13]. A surveyor can move from an older terrace to a newer estate room in the same week, and what lies under each floor can differ. Wellington and the Severn Gorge sit in conservation areas, and altering floors in a listed building needs listed building consent from the council, with unauthorised work a criminal offence [8] [9]. Give the age and area of your home on the first call.
Then check who you are hiring. Wood flooring has no mandatory licence, so look for voluntary proof instead: search the CFA directory by county or postcode for a contractor member [1], or the NICF directory by postcode or county, where fitter members carry graded categories and an official complaints procedure sits behind them [2]. Manufacturer approvals stated on a firm’s own site, such as Karndean or Moduleo retailer status, show the maker trusts it to sell and support the range. Ask for public liability insurance detail and a recent local job you could look at, and favour firms that publish both.
Insist on a home survey before anyone quotes. A good surveyor tests the subfloor with a moisture meter, checks room air with a hygrometer and reads both against the levels the board maker allows: room humidity between forty-five and sixty-five per cent counts as normal for British homes [5]. Boards should rest sealed and flat in the room itself to acclimatise, and the quote should allow an expansion gap around every edge, hidden by skirting or beading [5]. If plaster or screed is still drying, the floor waits: wood laid onto damp subfloors lifts, cups and gapes.
Get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope so you compare like with like, as TrustMark advises [3]. Each quote should name the species, range, board thickness and finish, the square metres measured, and whether boards, underlay, damp-proof membrane, levelling compound, trims, thresholds, door trimming, furniture moving and uplift of the old floor sit inside or outside the price. It should give start and finish dates, daily working hours, how dust is handled, and payment stages, with a deposit for materials normal and full payment before completion a reason to walk away.
Talk money plainly. Ask whether each figure includes VAT, since the standard rate adds a fifth to most flooring goods and services [6], and most firms in this round publish no rates at all, so the quote does the talking. A per-square-metre rate suits single rectangular rooms, while whole houses and fiddly hallways with stairs deserve a fixed itemised total. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain, and ask what is missing.
Expect the job to run in a clear order. First contact fixes the scope: rooms, boards and who supplies what. Then the home survey with moisture readings, then itemised quotes to compare on identical scope. Agree start and finish dates, daily hours and dust handling before boards are ordered, and keep one room clear so the delivery can rest flat. The fitter lays, trims and beads, you walk the floor in daylight, and the balance follows sign-off rather than coming before it.
Pay in stages and keep the paper trail in one folder. A deposit for materials is normal, with the balance due after sign-off, and every payment should produce a receipt showing what it covered [12]. File the survey notes, quotes, invoice, warranties and care guide with dated photos of thresholds and beading. If boards cup or joints open in the first heating season, that folder turns a phone call into a fix under the written guarantee.
At the end, collect the paperwork and keep it with your house records. You want the itemised invoice, the board maker’s warranty documents, the fitter’s written guarantee with its length, the survey’s moisture readings and the care guide for cleaning and room humidity [5]. Walk the finished floor in daylight before you pay the balance, checking thresholds, beading and gaps at pipes and frames. If anything cups or creaks in the first heating season, call the fitter back under the written guarantee.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, a national cost guide puts materials at around £80 or more per square metre for solid hardwood, near £50 for engineered wood and near £30 for wood-effect laminate, with luxury vinyl near £35 [4]. Fitting adds roughly £35–£60 per square metre for solid boards, near £45 for engineered and near £30 for laminate, and a fitter’s day rate sits near £250 [4]. Its worked examples put a nineteen-square-metre living room at £1,235 in laminate, £1,805 in engineered and £2,470 in solid, all fitted [4].
Board choice moves the figure first: wide prime oak and parquet patterns cost more than narrow standard boards, and stairs, halls and fiddly cuts add labour. Subfloor preparation is the usual surprise, with levelling compound, damp-proof membranes and quality underlay all adding per square metre once the old floor comes up [5]. Uplift and disposal of the old floor, furniture moving, door trimming and new skirting or beading each add a line, so ask which lines your quote holds.
Sanding and refinishing boards already down is its own job type. A national guide averages it near £42 per square metre, with stairs near £50 per step, staining near £13 per square metre and restoration labour near £30–£50 per hour, all dated May 2024 [11]. Condition moves the figure: paint-covered or gappy boards need more passes, and loose or missing parquet blocks add repair lines. Ask whether sanding, staining and sealing come as one price or three.
Ask whether every figure includes VAT, since the standard rate of 20% applies to most flooring goods and services [6]. Firms in this round publish almost no example rates, so treat any single fixed price for a whole house with no breakdown as a question, not an answer. Get two or three itemised quotes on identical scopes and compare the lines, not the totals [3].
Fix the scope on paper before boards are ordered: exact rooms and square metres, species and finish, what preparation is inside the price, which trims and thresholds, start and finish dates, payment stages and the length of the fitting guarantee. Agree what changes the price if the subfloor tests worse than expected, and keep every quote, invoice and warranty together [3] [5].
Pattern and scale move labour more than boards do. Parquet and herringbone sit at the dear end of hardwood, and the fiddly laying adds days rather than hours [4]. Whole-house jobs in one board deserve a fixed itemised total, while a single rectangular room suits a per-square-metre rate. Booking several rooms for sanding together usually trims the rate, since setup spreads across the job [11].
Red flags
Quotes solid or engineered boards without visiting, measuring or asking what subfloor lies beneath.
Will not name the species, board thickness, finish and square metres the price covers.
Plans to fit boards the day they arrive, with no acclimatisation and no moisture testing [5].
Leaves expansion gaps, thresholds, trims and beading out of the written scope.
Cannot point to a CFA or NICF directory listing, a maker approval or a local job you could check [1] [2].
Asks for full payment in cash up front, with no written terms to fall back on [7].
Will not put the scope, price, start date and guarantee length in writing before lifting a tool [3].
Presses you to decide on the day with a discount that dies when the van leaves.
Treats council consent as your problem alone when the home is listed or sits in a conservation area [8] [9].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.