The OP's point that the CAA operates so far as regulation of maintenance standards is concerned with no consistency whatsoever is correct.
What makes it worse is the culture of arrogance that its Surveyors learn all too quickly, expecially when that comes with ignorance of the Regulations and sheer incompetence.
The end result is that there are indeed some organisations - large and small - where things are done exceedingly badly without any evident knowledge or even interest on the CAA's part, and others where the Surveyor imposes rules that are entirely of his own making, usually with no contributon to aviation safety.