HJ Shipbuilding & Construction had the most defects in multifamily housing over the past six months. By defect rate relative to total households, Duson General Construction was the highest.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Oct. 20 released the status of top builders by defect rulings for the second half of 2025. Based on the most recent six months from March to August this year, the builder with the most defect rulings was HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (154 cases, based on detailed defect counts).
It was followed by Jeil Construction (135 cases), Sunyoung General Construction (119), Daewoo E&C (82), and Hyewoo ENC (71).
On a cumulative basis for the past five years, GS Engineering and Construction (1,413 cases), KyeRyong Construction Industrial (605), Daebang Construction (503), Daemyung General Construction (346), and SM Line (323).
Based on the defect ruling rate, the top builders over the past six months were Duson General Construction (125.0%), Dow A&C (72.7%), Hanyang General Construction (71.7%), Sunyoung General Construction (71.3%), and Myungdo General Construction (66.7%). The defect ruling rate is the value obtained by dividing the number of detailed defect rulings by the sum of the total supplied households/units of the complexes that received defect rulings and multiplying by 100.
On a cumulative basis for the past five years, Jiwoo General Construction (2,660.0%), Samdo General Construction (1,787.5%), Jihyang General Construction (1,681.3%), Hyesung General Construction (1,300.0%), and Baegun General Construction (741.7%) were cited as builders with high defect ruling rates. Most were small to mid-sized firms with fewer than 300 units of multifamily housing construction performance.
The ministry also announced the status of defect receipts and processing by the Defect Examination and Dispute Mediation Committee (Hassimwi) for multifamily housing. From the start of the year through August, Hassimwi handled a total of 3,118 defect dispute cases, and the number processed by year-end is expected to be around 4,500, similar to previous years.
The defect examination, which determines whether defects reported by residents are actual defects, received a total of 12,005 applications from 2020 through August '25. Of these, the share ultimately ruled as defects was 67.5% (8,103 cases).
By major defect type, they were functional failure (15.1%), peeling and detachment (13.6%), cracking (11.0%), condensation (9.8%), leakage (7.1%), and contamination and discoloration (6.6%).
Kim Young-a, head of the ministry's Housing Construction Supply Division, said, "There is a positive effect in that continued disclosure of lists prompts builders to prevent defects in advance and to respond actively to repairs," and added that the ministry will "continue to disclose the lists so that consumers can make the right choices through accurate information."