Non-standard construction
The survey calls the house a Cornish unit, with posts and panels. Why should a brick outer leaf added later not delete that description?
Because the Cornish unit is the posts and panels the survey named, and a brick outer leaf added later is cladding, not a deletion of that system. The brick may change the look and cover the original face. It does not remove the posts and panels behind it, and it does not authorise you to describe the house as ordinary brick. The survey has recorded a Cornish unit. The later leaf should be added to that description, not used to erase it.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Cornish houses are recognised as precast posts and panels. Overcladding with brick was a common later alteration. From the street the result can look like a brick semi, which is how the system name gets dropped in conversation and then on a form. The surveyor's point in naming posts and panels is that the structure is still that system where it remains. A new outer leaf does not unwind the identification, and the visit has not opened every panel to map the brick.
Use the survey's words with your solicitor and with any lender: Cornish unit, posts and panels, with a later brick outer leaf. Ask the seller for papers if they claim the original system was removed rather than clad. Do not let an agent's brick description replace the report. The home survey has not certified the brick as the structure, and it has not tested the concrete posts.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which posts and panels did you actually see, rather than infer from the brick?
- Is the brick recorded as a later outer leaf, not as a new structure?
- Have you kept the Cornish name in the construction section?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the Cornish post-and-panel description on any lender form.
- Describe the brick as a later leaf, not as a reason to delete the name.
- Ask the solicitor for papers if the seller claims the system was removed.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If only brick is visible, can the Cornish name be dropped?
No. The survey called the house a Cornish unit because of the posts and panels. Covering them with brick does not delete that call. Dropping the name would hide the construction the report identified. The posts and panels are still the Cornish system.
Does the outer leaf mean the posts no longer carry the house?
The survey has not shown that. A brick leaf can be a skin in front of posts and panels that still form the system. It was not opened up to prove the posts had been retired. The later leaf was not shown to have retired those posts.