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‘In 2021, apartment defect reports surged by 74.6%.’
As the preference for new apartments increases, dissatisfaction with the quality is also on the rise. Although construction companies are competing to introduce new technologies and promote high-end (best grade) brands, the number of defect reports from tenants is breaking a new record every year. The short-term surge in unskilled foreign workers and excessive shortening of the period are considered structural factors causing the increase in defects.
DL Construction takes the first place amid a surge in defect reports
According to Senator Park Seong-min of People’s Strength on the 27th, there were 7686 apartment defect reports submitted to the Defect Review and Dispute Mediation Committee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last year, a whopping 74.6% increase from the previous year (4402 cases). It is the largest ever since related statistics were compiled in 2009. The number of apartment defect reports increased every year to 3818 cases in 2018, 4290 cases in 2019, 4402 cases in 2020, and 7686 cases last year.
The construction company that received the most defect reports last year was DL Construction. In the past year alone, 840 cases have been received. GS E&C (385 cases), Jungheung Construction (331 cases), HDC Hyundai Development Company (267 cases), and SM Merchant Marine (206 cases) followed.
When looking at defects by type, cracks (1119 cases) accounted for the largest proportion at 14.55%. Condensation (1034 cases) was 13.45%, lifting/falling (516 cases, 6.71%), leaks (472 cases, 6.14%), and malfunctions (371 cases, 4.82%) were also reported.
“On-site training through 3-4 foreign language broadcasts”
Experts point to the manpower structure at construction sites as a key factor in the rapid increase in defects. According to the industry, 8 to 9 out of 10 construction technicians (daily workers) have been employed for less than two years. In particular, following 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak spread, the demand for food delivery exploded and many workers moved to delivery workers, making the difficulty of finding a job in the field even worse. As such, although there are differences by region and site, the industry estimate that the proportion of foreign workers ranges from 50% to 80% on average. Many of them are known as illegal immigrants.
An executive in charge of site management at a construction company said, “In some sites, safety-related announcements are broadcast in three or four foreign languages. This means that these structural causes are negatively affecting the quality of the apartment finishing.
Construction companies’ behavior of excessively shortening the construction period for fear of soaring raw material prices, rising labor costs, and rising interest costs is also a contributing factor to the defect. An official from a construction company said, “If the construction period is prolonged, the operating funds will increase, so we are trying to shorten the period as much as possible.
The problem is that the criteria for defects are unclear. This is because it is difficult to clearly divide the responsibility of whether the construction is poor or a natural defect in life. For this reason, there are many cases of conflict between tenants and construction companies. According to the Enforcement Decree of the Multi-unit Housing Management Act, the warranty period for defects in the construction company is 2 to 5 years. The closing project with the shortest warranty period is two years. This includes plastering, painting, painting, painting, and tile construction, as well as kitchen appliances and home appliance construction. For heating, air conditioning, ventilation, gas facilities, insulation, and windows, the warranty period is three years. Reinforced concrete, steel frame, roof, and waterproofing works that are directly related to the structural safety of an apartment or that are large-scale are the longest five years.
Deok-rye Kim, head of the policy research department at the Housing Industry Research Institute, pointed out, “Disputes over defects in apartments are increasing, but there are difficulties in resolving them due to the variety of types and causes of defects.”
By Kim Eun-jung, staff reporter kej@hankyung.com