I recently needed to look for a new web hosting company, and found the reviews at Trustpilot a useful starting point - see
https://uk.trustpilot.com/categories/web_hostingMost hosting companies have packages which support PHP, and many also offer their own web creation software. There's usually also the option of installing your own applications via an installer such as Softaculous or Installatron.
Each host will have pages with guidance and FAQs, which may answer some of your questions, but I also thought it was a good idea to ask their pre-sales team specific questions to see how well they answered. (One company that others seemed to rate quite highly didn't answer at all, so disappeared from my shortlist.)
From my web hosting experiences over the past few years, I would suggest it is probably better to buy direct from a company running its own servers rather than a smaller reseller outfit. A reseller can change their supplier, and if they don't give you enough warning or information about this, chaos can ensue; also, with some queries, they may need to refer them on to the supplier rather than answering them quickly themselves. You can find a lot about the size of a company from the Companies House website.
There are lots of options out there - my problem was deciding which one to choose.
