Thanks everyone for all the helpful comments and sympathy. In a way, I guess it's actually 'lucky' that i had the problem with the CH and HW controls, as it seems to have highlighted far more fundamental issues...
The reason I didn't shop around for more prices is that I got 3 quotes for all the renovations (also incl electrics, removing chimneys etc) from 3 separate contractors. This guy was (at least initially) the cheapest so I took him. He must have been either lying, or deflated the other prices to compensate.
One of my biggest gripes about the whole business is that I specially took a contractor rather than get the individual workers (electrician, plumber etc) despite the inevitable markup, to save me the hassle (I work 9-5.30) - and all I've got is grief and hassle. Ironic isn't it.
Anyway, hopefully (depending on his workload) I've got someone coming in this week to inspect. He's IPHE registered - will see what he says.
PS> At first I was inclined to let sleeping dogs lie, however I'm now veering more and more to suing the contractor, especially as everyone says 10k is too much even for a properly done job.