Non-standard construction
A Dorlonco house has a brick skin and the surveyor could not see the frame. Why does the brick skin not retire the non-standard label?
The brick skin does not retire the non-standard label because a Dorlonco house is a steel-framed system, and the surveyor could not see that frame. Brick can be a cladding this type was built to carry. It is not proof of an ordinary brick house, and it is not a view of the steel. The survey can describe the brick face. It cannot drop the system name, or clear the frame, on the strength of a skin that hides the structure. The frame condition is still unknown.
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?
Dorlonco construction uses a steel frame, with the wall finish, including brick, hung or built around it. Once the brick is complete, the stanchions are covered. Corrosion or distortion at the frame would not announce itself as a conventional brick crack the surveyor can simply regrade. No opening was made. A sound-looking elevation therefore leaves the label in place. Non-standard here means the frame, not a comment that the bricks are a defect in themselves.
Tell your solicitor and, if a lender is involved, the lender the construction the survey actually named, including that the frame was not seen. Do not rewrite the form as cavity brick because the outside is brick. A specialist who understands this steel system can inspect the frame only if access is agreed. The home survey has not done that opening-up, and it has not answered a lender's criteria. It has described a Dorlonco house with the frame concealed.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which parts of the frame, if any, were visible rather than covered by brick?
- Are you naming Dorlonco from features you saw, not from the brick alone?
- Have you left the steel frame as not inspected behind that skin?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the non-standard label while the steel frame stays unseen.
- Do not tell a lender the house is ordinary brick because of the skin.
- Ask the solicitor for any frame-repair papers before you drop the name.
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 the brickwork is plumb, has the steel been cleared?
No. Plumb brick describes the skin. The steel frame is behind it and was not seen. Straight courses do not show whether the stanchions are sound, and the survey has not said they are. The Dorlonco label follows the unseen steel, not the brick face.
Does repointing the brick change the construction name?
No. Repointing maintains the face. It does not replace the steel frame or turn the house into a conventional brick structure. The survey still could not see the frame, so the non-standard label stays. Fresh pointing does not retire a steel frame.