People planning to move into the newly-built Gyeongsan IPark in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, protest in front of the apartment complex, demanding defects they discovered there be fixed, April 5. Yonhap

A sharp rise in defects in newly-built apartment complexes is attributed to the hiring of unskilled workers, deteriorating work conditions at construction sites, and soaring material costs, prompting the government to launch nationwide site inspections, according to experts and construction firms on Thursday.

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) said that unskilled workers, along with a tendency to rush construction work to meet project schedules, can pose critical threats.

"If construction materials are supplied late because of their prices and disrupt a project's schedule, delayed supplies can cram into a late project phase and cause the workers to rush, which could lead to defects," a KICT official said. "Cheaper materials can also fall short of meeting quality and performance standards. Besides, installing formwork and using ready-mixed-concrete can also go wrong if handled by unskilled hands."

Another expert from the Korea Construction Engineers Association pointed to students and migrant workers without proper construction training as reasons behind the housing defects.

Lee Hee-seok, a civil engineering expert who has been working at construction sites since 1979, noted that the current workforce includes college graduates who studied either architecture or civil engineering but lack knowledge in other fields. He described their skills as "half-complete," as architecture graduates lack construction engineering techniques, while civil engineering graduates lack construction design skills.

Lee also said that construction projects lacking sufficient funds from the country's Public Procurement Service cannot offer workers satisfactory wages, diminishing their commitment to the job. He added that this environment is discouraging more people from working on construction sites, resulting in 70 percent of construction sites nationwide struggling to meet deadlines due to worker shortages.

Multiple defects were found in Hillstate Oryong apartment buildings in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, by residents planning to move in. They include uneven exterior walls, incomplete installations and broken washroom tiles. Screen capture from Naver blog

"Sixty percent of field workers are now temporarily hired hands. The only people concerned about project quality are foremen dispatched by construction firms," Lee said. "The workforce is now also fraught with unskilled foreign workers with language barriers. Foreign and seasonal workers without enough experience are now filling the void left by skilled workers who have retired. These problems aren't limited to the country's top 10 construction firms but rather evident across the entire industry."

Recently, reports of defects in newly built apartment buildings have sharply increased, prompting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to initiate a nationwide inspection into 20 apartment complexes constructed by companies that have received the highest number of defect reports in the past five years.

The ministry, together with Korea Authority of Land & Infrastructure Safety and municipal administrations, began the inspection Wednesday, which will continue through May 30. In cases where authorities discover signs of serious defects that violate the country's Construction Technology Promotion Act, they will impose temporary business suspensions or penalty points.

Construction companies attribute the problem to a workforce with declining expertise, rising wages, and a loss of popularity among young Korean workers in the industry.

Samsung C&T said both the quality and quantity of domestic workers are declining, with migrant workers, often lacking proficiency and facing communication difficulties, increasingly replacing them. An official from the company also singled out the rise in construction material prices, prompting companies to opt for cheaper materials, thereby jeopardizing building quality and the safety of workers.

Lotte Engineering & Construction said that insufficient project funds are incentivizing companies to hire more low-paid, unskilled workers. Additionally, they noted that aging local Korean experts are retiring without younger workers to succeed them.

"The country must introduce new policies to secure young talent," a Lotte official said. "And construction workers' unions should support the inclusion of foreign workers."