Korea-specific scope
This page models an ordinary passenger elevator under Korean inspection rules checked on July 27, 2026.
It uses KRW, Korea’s statutory self-inspection and safety-inspection timetable, and user-entered Korean project quotes.
It is a lifecycle budget model, not an engineering design, safety certification, inspection booking, legal opinion, or official price schedule.
Replace every sample price with a written quote from the manufacturer, contractor, maintenance company, and inspection body.
Why elevator lifecycle cost is wider than the installation quote
An equipment and installation quote describes only the opening cash requirement.
Once the lift enters service, maintenance contracts, electricity, minor repairs, periodic inspections, precision safety inspections, major repairs, and modernization create a second and often substantial cost layer.
Those costs arrive at different dates, so a simple undiscounted sum does not answer the same question as present value.
The calculator expands the user’s assumptions into annual cash flow, escalates future nominal prices, and discounts each year-end amount.
It then reports nominal lifecycle cost, present-value lifecycle cost, present value per lift, equivalent annual cost, and equivalent monthly cost.
A cheaper opening quote therefore remains visible without being allowed to hide a more expensive long-run maintenance or modernization plan.
New construction
Include equipment, installation, shaft, electrical, and building works, then compare their opening cost with decades of operation, inspection, and renewal.
Existing or ageing property
Exclude the sunk installation cost, enter completed years since installation inspection, and focus on the next precision inspection, six-month inspection cycle, repair, and modernization events.
Korean inspection schedule used by the model
The National Law Information Center OPEN API returned the current Elevator Safety Management Act as law ID 001458, MST 259475, effective January 31, 2025.
It returned the Enforcement Rule as law ID 007612, MST 268955, also effective January 31, 2025.
Only the schedule is automated; inspection fees remain editable because Article 76 and Enforcement Rule Article 81 place fees under a separate ministerial notice rather than a universal amount in these articles.
Korean inspection timetable for an ordinary passenger elevator| Item | Legal source | Core interval | Calculator treatment |
|---|
| Self-inspection | Act Article 31 | At least monthly | Count shown; cost treated as included in maintenance |
| Periodic inspection | Enforcement Rule Article 54(1) | 1 year | One per year while start-of-year age is below 25 |
| Ageing-lift periodic inspection | Enforcement Rule Article 54(2)1 | 6 months | Two per year from a start-of-year age of 25 |
| Precision safety inspection | Act Article 32(1)3(c) | Age 15, then every 3 years | Installation ages 15, 18, 21, 24, and onward |
A precision-year waiver is not automatic
Act Article 33(2) says the periodic inspection for the relevant year may be exempted when a precision safety inspection has been or must be performed.
Because the provision permits rather than guarantees the waiver, the default is not confirmed.
Turn on the waiver only when the Korea Elevator Safety Agency, another designated inspection body, or the actual inspection schedule confirms one periodic inspection is removed.
Cases outside the automatic schedule
- Freight, vehicle, and dumbwaiter elevators, and lifts in detached houses, where a two-year exception may apply
- A lift within two years after a serious accident or serious failure, where a six-month rule may apply
- Control-panel or driving-machine replacement, accident repair, or another event requiring an ad hoc inspection
- Postponed, failed, repeated, suspended, or separately ordered inspections
What each input means
Equipment and ancillary works
Equipment and installation should follow the manufacturer or prime contractor scope, including the lift package and basic commissioning where quoted.
Keep shaft, pit, machine-room, structural, electrical-capacity, emergency-power, fire-interface, demolition, and finishing work in the ancillary field when those items sit in another trade package.
Maintenance and minor repair
Confirm whether monthly statutory self-inspection service, emergency call-out, remote monitoring, consumables, and replacement parts are included in the maintenance contract.
Enter only separately billed minor repair outside that contract to avoid counting the same part twice.
Inspection fees
Use the fee applicable to the lift type, stops, inspection body, and application date.
The sample KRW 250,000 periodic fee and KRW 800,000 precision fee are editable illustrations, not published national averages or guaranteed official fees.
Major repair and modernization
Define major repair as a planned bundle such as ropes, door equipment, or inverter work, and modernization as a wider control, drive, safety-device, or replacement project.
If the two scopes overlap in one year, the model lets modernization supersede the same-year major repair rather than charging both.
How the lifecycle calculation works
The analysis year runs from 1 through the selected horizon.
Start-of-year age equals current age plus year minus one, while end-of-year age equals current age plus year.
This distinction makes the six-month periodic cycle begin when a full 25 years have already elapsed at the start of an annual bucket.
Nominal future cost
Escalation factor in year y = (1 + cost escalation)y - 1
Nominal cost in year y = current input × escalation factor × event count × number of lifts
Present value
Present value in year y = nominal cost in year y ÷ (1 + discount rate)y
Lifecycle present value = initial cost + all annual present values
Equivalent annual cost
EAC = lifecycle present value × r ÷ [1 - (1 + r)-n]
When r = 0, EAC = lifecycle present value ÷ n
Equivalent monthly cost = EAC ÷ 12
Equivalent annual cost turns uneven repair and modernization events into one comparable annual burden.
It does not mean the building will pay that smooth amount every year, so the annual cash-flow table remains necessary for liquidity and reserve planning.
Step-by-step use
- Set the asset and horizon
Enter lifts sharing the same assumptions, completed age at the analysis date, and the planned ownership or reserve period - Separate new from existing assets
Include opening installation cost for a new project and exclude it when analysing only future costs of installed lifts - Normalize quote scope
Align VAT, demolition, shaft, power, fire interface, emergency power, commissioning, and finishing before comparing contractors - Confirm inspection fees and waiver
Enter current fees and apply the precision-year waiver only after the real schedule confirms it - Add renewal plans
Use written major-repair and modernization scopes, costs, and planning cycles rather than a supposed statutory replacement life - Read both cost views
Use nominal cash flow for future funding and present value or EAC for like-for-like economic comparison
Worked example: two new lifts over 30 years
The editable example uses two new lifts, KRW 90,000,000 equipment and installation per lift, and KRW 20,000,000 ancillary works per lift.
Each lift has KRW 200,000 monthly maintenance, KRW 1,800,000 annual electricity, KRW 600,000 annual minor repair, a KRW 250,000 periodic inspection, and a KRW 800,000 precision inspection.
Major repair is KRW 15,000,000 every 10 years, modernization is KRW 60,000,000 every 20 years, discount is 3%, and cost escalation is 2%.
Worked result for two new Korean passenger lifts over 30 years| Result | Worked value | Interpretation |
|---|
| Initial installation | KRW 220,000,000 | Time-zero equipment and works |
| Nominal lifecycle cost | KRW 912,722,876 | Future KRW after 2% escalation |
| Lifecycle present value | KRW 631,130,645 | Discounted at 3% |
| Present value per lift | KRW 315,565,322 | Useful after aligning lift count and service scope |
| Equivalent annual cost | KRW 32,199,818 | Annualized present-value burden |
| Equivalent monthly cost | KRW 2,683,318 | A reserve-planning aid, not the actual invoice pattern |
The schedule contains 35 periodic inspections per lift: 25 annual inspections followed by ten inspections across five six-month-cycle years.
Precision inspections fall in analysis years 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30.
Major repairs fall in years 10 and 30, while modernization falls in year 20 and supersedes the otherwise coincident 20-year major repair.
With the waiver unconfirmed, periodic and precision inspection fees both remain in those precision years as a conservative budget.
Three practical scenarios
Compare installation alternatives
Run each manufacturer or contractor quote with the same lift count, horizon, discount rate, and cost escalation.
Compare present value and EAC only after maintenance scope, excluded parts, major repair, modernization, and inspection assumptions are aligned.
Model an 18-year-old lift
Exclude initial installation, set current age to 18, and use a 20-year horizon.
Precision events at installation ages 21, 24, and 27 and the six-month periodic cycle after age 25 become visible alongside the user’s renewal plan.
Plan a long-term repair reserve
EAC and monthly equivalent cost describe the average economic burden, but they do not replace a dated funding schedule.
Use the nominal annual table to identify the cash peaks in major-repair and modernization years, then reconcile them with the actual reserve balance and contribution rules.
Quote normalization checklist
Tax and trade scope
VAT, demolition, lifting, finishing, electrical, fire interface, emergency power, and commissioning
Maintenance scope
Self-inspection, emergency call-out, remote monitoring, included parts, exclusions, and escalation clause
Inspection responsibility
Installation, periodic, precision, ad hoc, and repeat inspections, including who applies and pays
Parts availability
Control, inverter, door-equipment availability, compatible replacements, and end-of-support response
Downtime
Expected outage during works, inspection, or failure, temporary access, and who bears interruption loss
Warranty and defects
Warranty period, free scope, performance commitment, delay damages, and change-order approval
Limits and cautions
- The annual bucket approximates the plus-or-minus 30-day periodic-inspection window and the exact month when age 25 is reached
- The model does not infer cost from stops, speed, rated load, traffic, region, manufacturer, or building condition
- Ad hoc or repeat inspection, accident repair, downtime, insurance, financing, tax, depreciation, and tax-credit effects are outside the result
- Modernization remains an economic event and does not automatically reset the statutory installation-inspection age
- Lower cost does not prove better safety, parts support, fire or evacuation performance, accessibility, uptime, or maintenance quality
- Small changes in discount and escalation rates can materially move a long-horizon present value, so more than one assumption set should be tested
Frequently asked questions
Should I always remove a periodic inspection in a precision-inspection year?
No.
Article 33 allows an exemption, so select it only when the real inspection schedule confirms that one periodic inspection is removed.
Does a Korean lift have to be replaced at age 25?
The rule automated here changes periodic inspection to a six-month interval after 25 years.
It does not by itself create the universal replacement decision shown by this calculator; inspection findings, applicable safety requirements, parts support, and the building plan need separate review.
Can maintenance and minor repair overlap?
Yes.
Check the included-parts schedule and historical separate invoices, then enter only repair outside the maintenance contract.
Does modernization reset lift age to zero?
Not automatically in this model.
If a full replacement receives a new installation-inspection date, model the post-replacement segment as a new scenario with current age zero.
Should budgeting use nominal cost or present value?
Dated funding should use the nominal cash-flow schedule because those are the future KRW amounts under the escalation assumption.
Present value and EAC are better suited to comparing alternatives over the same horizon and assumptions.
Can I use the schedule for a freight or detached-house lift?
The cost structure may still be useful, but the automatic inspection count should not be used unchanged.
Enforcement Rule Article 54 contains two-year exceptions for specified freight, vehicle, dumbwaiter, and detached-house lifts, so use the actual inspection-body schedule.
Official sources and update boundary
The legal facts were verified through the National Law Information Center OPEN API on July 27, 2026.
The Act source is law ID 001458, MST 259475, effective January 31, 2025, covering Articles 31, 32, 33, and 76.
The Enforcement Rule source is law ID 007612, MST 268955, effective January 31, 2025, covering Articles 54 and 81.
Recheck the law whenever these articles change or when the lift type, incident history, inspection body, or actual schedule differs.
Recheck every price at the quote date because no installation, maintenance, electricity, repair, inspection, or modernization sample on this page is an official market average.
Run the model again with your written quotes
Put installation, maintenance, inspections, major repairs, and modernization on one dated cost map.
Keep the horizon and economic assumptions identical across alternatives, then review safety, quality, parts support, accessibility, and downtime outside the cost table.