... I therefore organised a AWS/NCC inspection just for damp. In particular I read that Bailey's construction is unlikely to have damp in the walls, but could in the floor. I paid £90 for the inspection and asked the inspector to point out anything else of concern. I agreed he wasn't going to do a full inspection, it was just damp that worried me. ...
Hello TV200.
This type of question is always fraught with difficulties, becasue none of the forum members was present to see or hear what's happened. The devil can be in the minutia and a word or grammatical mark in the wrong place can turn a point on its head.
If you suspect this mater is going to need a legal judgement or arbitration, I would advise you not to continue posting any details in case it might jeopardise the proceeding. In your case the matter is made more complicated becasue of the export of the goods in question.
In general terms, when person sets them selves up in a trade in the UK, the law makes the assumption the person has specialist knowledge and experience in the scope of the trade. It is also expected that when the trades person contracts to undertake work on behalf of a consumer, they will bring their expertise to bear on the work to serve the consumers best interests.
When contracting such a person it is usual to agree the scope of any work to be carried out. That would of course be essential if a fixed price has been agreed. Many trades will use an options and scale of tariffs for regular types of work. Often the options in a menu will be described in fairly general terms, but the tradesperson should be able to provide detailed description if required.
Were a non standard job is concerned, it is in both parties interests to engage in a detailed discussion to check the they are all satisfied with scope or limits of the activity. These become part of the contract when they are agreed.
Contracts are easier to judge when written, but in consumer situations verbal contracts are deemed to be just as valid, and if contested the test is what would a reasonable person have understood when the conversation took place. If the conversation was witnessed then that is an important support that can be used.
I would assume the inspector knew you were not in the UK, and thus you were relying on his/her expertise to provide an a effective damp condition report that you would be using to inform on the viability of exporting the caravan.
Based only on what you have written, some of your comments surround the price of the work suggest to me that you had some discussion with the inspector about the extent of any survey, and perhaps the inspector believed you were saying only do a "damp test" rather than a full damp survey.
Even if that were true, I would have reasonably expected a professional acting remotely on my behalf in these circumstances to point out the difference between a damp test and a full damp survey and the result of the test could not be taken as a whole caravan damp report. Further from their expertise, this type of caravan has a history of damp problems not necessarily detected by just a damp test.
I suggest you vary carefully review the contractual arrangements you had with your inspector, and only if you didn't unreasonably limit the inspectors activities, then you might think about taking the matter further.
You will almost certainly need to get an professional engineers report from an engineer who is prepared to analyse the extent of the damage, and who is prepared to put their name to a report that confirms the evidence would have been easily detected by the original inspector.
Getting a satisfactory resolution in this case I can see as being fraught with difficulties, becasue of the time, distance and cross boarders complications. You will definitely need to seek professional advice to pursue this matter.