Check Korean mechanical-equipment duties before comparing contracts
This calculator helps building owners and housing managers compare the building register, staffing plan, maintenance contract and inspection quotes on the same basis.
Appointing a fire-safety or electrical-safety manager does not automatically discharge a separate mechanical-equipment duty.
An inspection fee can also be counted twice when a maintenance retainer already includes the required inspection and report.
The rules are Korean rules verified on October 19, 2026; entering a future comparison date does not update the law.
Documents to prepare
- The register, eligible areas, lot boundaries, adjacent buildings and evidence of common management authority
- Total housing units and individual, central or district heating classification
- Responsible-manager and assistant credentials, actual coverage and prior appointment/filing records
- The statutory inspection anchor, inspection reports and VAT-inclusive maintenance/inspection quotes
Starting prices of zero are input placeholders rather than market rates or free services.
Use assumptions until evidence is available; confirm scope, staffing for both alternatives and dated quote evidence before making a contract choice.
Ordinary thresholds: 10,000 m², 500 units, or 300 with central heating
Enforcement Decree Article 14(1) covers ordinary use-classified buildings with at least 10,000 m² of eligible gross floor area, excluding housing and warehouses from that area rule.
Housing qualifies at 500 units regardless of heating, or at 300–499 units with central or district heating.
A 400-unit individually heated housing property does not become an ordinary non-housing building merely because its floor area exceeds 10,000 m².
Unknown heating at 300–499 units requires review.
Minimum responsible-manager rank and staffing under Enforcement Rule Annex 1 for ordinary buildings and housing| Eligible ordinary-building area | Housing units | Minimum responsible rank | Responsible | Assistant |
|---|
| 10,000 to below 15,000 m² | 500–999 / 300–499 with central or district heating | Entry | 1 | 0 |
| 15,000 to below 30,000 m² | 1,000–1,999 | Intermediate | 1 | 0 |
| 30,000 to below 60,000 m² | 2,000–2,999 | Advanced | 1 | 1 |
| 60,000 m² and above | 3,000 and above | Special | 1 | 1 |
The direct appointment table is Enforcement Rule Annex 1.
A responsible manager may hold a higher rank, and an Entry-or-higher responsible manager may fill the assistant position.
For ordinary Article 14(1)(1)–(2) appointments, the person must not already be appointed as the mechanical-equipment manager of another building.
This calculator does not decide whether a qualification and experience history will secure a credential booklet or a rank adjustment.
Verify aggregation, registered use and excluded areas
Common authority and adjacent lots
Annex 1 Note 2 treats multiple buildings within the same lot boundary or on adjacent lots as one where the same person holds management authority.
Their eligible areas or housing units are aggregated, so an individual building below 10,000 m² may still be part of a qualifying group.
An exclusive unit area is not the whole-building input.
Warehouses, mixed use and special facilities
Warehouse exclusion from the ordinary area rule is not a blanket exemption from every possible designation.
Mixed-use allocation and special-notice facilities such as underground stations, schools and public facilities require a register and authority check.
Do not invent an area deduction or declare that every facility below 10,000 m² is exempt.
A school or public building may itself meet the ordinary use-classified building area rule; establish that before selecting the special-notice path.
The special-facility option leaves the applicable notice, size and staffing requirements for authority review.
Without verified use and aggregation, the screen shows a provisional rank while the contract decision stays on hold.
Aggregated appointment and individual inspection can use different units
Even when buildings are aggregated for staffing, establish the actual inspection unit separately: an individual ordinary building or the applicable housing complex.
Do not apply the aggregated Advanced/Special bracket to every building’s inspection anchor.
Selecting multiple-building aggregation requires separate confirmation of the one inspection unit shown here and an authority-confirmed anchor; unknown or out-of-scope units receive no inspection schedule.
Check other buildings/complexes separately, and align cost quotes with the equipment and inspection scope of the whole contract.
Appointment and reporting each have their own 30-day trigger
- Select the event requiring appointment. Rule Article 8(2) uses completion, the register entry for a use change, or the end of maintenance outsourcing, with appointment within 30 days.
Replacement after dismissal is within 30 days of dismissal under Act Article 19(5).
- Enter the actual appointment separately. The appointment report is due within 30 days of the actual appointment under Rule Article 8-2; dismissal reporting has a separate dismissal trigger.
These periods cannot be combined into an unrestricted 60-day allowance.
- Verify documents and acceptance. Prepare employment evidence or the maintenance outsourcing contract copy and the credential booklet copy, and keep the local authority’s accepted filing record.
Entering a filing date does not certify acceptance or document sufficiency.
Shown dates are references before holiday adjustments
A use-change event on 2026-09-01 has a day-30 reference of 2026-10-01; an actual appointment on 2026-09-20 has a reporting reference of 2026-10-20.
The model adds 30 calendar days but does not establish holiday extensions or electronic/in-person office cutoffs.
Confirm the actual trigger and filing procedure and submit with time to spare.
The legacy appointment transition for permits/applications or existing buildings at April 18, 2020 uses bracket-specific past dates of 2021-04-17, 2022-04-17 or 2023-04-17.
A past reference does not establish a current violation: compare it with actual appointment and filing records.
Annual performance inspection and half-year maintenance records differ
Maintenance Standard Article 11 ordinarily sets the anchor at the first anniversary of completion, with performance inspection at least once per annual period.
Transitional provisions mean an occupancy approval date alone cannot determine the right anchor for every existing building.
Four anchor paths
- Already completed before 2021-08-09: Advanced/Special brackets use 2021-08-09; Intermediate uses 2022-04-18; Entry uses 2023-04-18.
- Permitted before that date and completed later: use the later of completion + 1 year and the bracket-specific transitional anchor.
- Permitted and completed on/after that date: use completion + 1 year.
- Authority-confirmed anchor: enter a verified date for an individual use change, extension or other case; leave unverified dates unknown.
A period runs from an anniversary of the anchor through the day before its next anniversary.
For a legacy Intermediate building with anchor 2022-04-18, the period containing 2026-10-19 is 2026-04-18 through 2027-04-17.
An early actual inspection last year does not move the statutory anchor to last inspection + 1 year.
Leap-day year addition uses the target month’s last day; confirm any February 29 interpretation with the authority.
Half-year maintenance records
Article 9 requires maintenance results to be recorded at least once per half-year.
June 30 and December 31 are management period-end markers; annual performance inspection does not replace these records.
Ten-year retention and alternating HVAC scope
Decree Article 14(2) requires performance-inspection records to be retained for 10 years.
The alternating-year cooling/heating equipment treatment under Standard Article 7(2) does not convert the whole performance-inspection obligation into a once-every-two-years duty.
A last-inspection date within the current period is displayed as a recorded date, not a certification of every past period or the report’s quality.
Missing data leaves a record-check status rather than an automatically assessed violation or fine.
Compare in-house staffing with maintenance outsourcing
Act Article 18 permits maintenance outsourcing to a facility-management professional holding mechanical-equipment managers; Article 19(1) treats that qualifying outsourcing as appointment.
Performance inspection by a registered inspection business is a separate service, so its equipment scope and report must be confirmed in the contract.
In-house annual recurring cost
Responsible manager’s loaded annual cost + required assistant’s loaded annual cost + total training + relief/equipment/other cost + external performance-inspection quote
Add one assistant only in Advanced/Special brackets.
Align employer insurance, retirement accrual, allowances and relief coverage rather than comparing salary alone.
Outsourced annual recurring cost
Monthly retainer × 12 + annual extras/owner supervision + separate performance-inspection quote
If the retainer genuinely includes the required inspection and report, the separate inspection amount is excluded.
A remaining value in the disabled separate-fee field is not counted twice.
The in-house staffing alternative also uses an external performance-inspection quote.
One Entry manager does not automatically enable a building to conduct its own performance inspection.
Direct inspection under Standard Article 11(2) requires, per building, one relevant-field Special responsible manager under Decree Annex 7(2)(a), one Advanced-or-higher manager under (b), and equipment needed for the results report.
This model does not assess those qualifications or diagnose equipment.
Inspection prices are actual negotiated quotes within the pricing framework in Standard Article 12(2) and Annex 4.
The calculator does not multiply area by an invented statutory unit price.
Enter VAT-inclusive service payments; do not add VAT to employment compensation again.
Fictional example: KRW 40m versus KRW 27m per year
These values are synthetic illustrations verified against the shared pure calculation function, not market evidence.
An ordinary 20,000 m² building is in the Intermediate bracket: one responsible manager and no required assistant.
- In-house: KRW 36,000,000 employment + KRW 300,000 training + KRW 1,700,000 other + KRW 2,000,000 external inspection = KRW 40,000,000 annually.
- Outsourced: KRW 2,000,000 × 12 + KRW 1,000,000 extras + KRW 2,000,000 separate inspection = KRW 27,000,000 annually.
- Initial costs: KRW 1,000,000 in-house and zero outsourced, with escalation and discount both 0%.
- Three-year TCO: KRW 121,000,000 in-house versus KRW 81,000,000 outsourced, a KRW 40,000,000 difference.
- The comparable monthly retainer break-even is approximately KRW 3,111,111.11.
Switching to an included inspection changes the same outsourced recurring cost to KRW 25,000,000 annually.
The duty remains; the separately entered KRW 2,000,000 is removed because it is already inside the retainer.
Loading the example leaves all evidence confirmations incomplete and does not recommend a contract.
Interpret present-value TCO and the break-even retainer
Timing assumptions in the model
The horizon is 1–10 years; annual escalation and discount rates each range from 0–20%.
Year y recurring cost is first-year cost × (1 + escalation)^(y − 1), discounted by (1 + discount)^y.
Setup occurs once at time zero; recurring payments occur at year-end.
First-year payments, nominal TCO and present-value TCO are separate measures, and costs are not prorated from an actual appointment date.
PV saving with outsourcing equals in-house PV minus outsourced PV: positive favors outsourcing, negative favors in-house staffing.
The monthly break-even retainer makes the two PV totals equal with all other assumptions unchanged.
If outsourcing extras alone exceed in-house costs, the result reports no break-even even at a zero retainer rather than a negative quoted price.
Internal sums retain precision; totals round to whole KRW and the monthly threshold to two decimals.
The ±20% retainer sensitivity changes only the quoted monthly fee.
A lower modeled price does not establish legality, equipment performance, safety or service quality; align required staffing, inspections and reports before comparing it.
April 17, 2027 temporary recognition, training and fine caps
The April 16, 2026 amendment, Rule No1579, extended the temporary recognition period in Rule No717 Supplementary Article 2(2) to April 17, 2027.
That extension took effect on April 16, 2026; the other current Decree/Rule amendments took effect June 1, 2026.
Eligibility depends on individual conditions including having worked at that building at the 2020 transition and continuing to work there.
This is not a general qualification waiver for new hires or transfers to another building.
Training is a separate check
Decree Annex 6 requires initial training within six months of first appointment.
Refresher training is within three months of the three-year anniversary of the most recent maintenance training; each course totals at least 21 hours.
The 2026 amendment added rank-adjustment training, which counts as that year’s refresher training under the applicable provision.
Caps are not assessed fines
Act Article 30(1) provides a cap of KRW 5,000,000 for listed non-appointment, maintenance-standard and record violations.
Article 30(2) provides a cap of KRW 1,000,000 for its listed reporting, training and other violations.
Actual assessment depends on the violation and governing criteria; caps are neither accumulated nor added to modeled savings.
A provider’s visit count alone does not prove valid appointment or on-site staffing coverage.
If a plan relies on temporary recognition, verify continuity, the end date and regular-rank conversion, and arrange replacement before a vacancy or contract termination.
Frequently asked questions
Does a fire or electrical safety appointment cover this duty?
Each law has different scope, tasks and credentials.
Verify mechanical-equipment scope and credentials separately, together with any other-role restrictions and actual coverage.
Does every housing property with 300 units qualify?
At 300–499 units, central or district heating is required for this ordinary housing threshold.
At 500 units or more, heating is irrelevant; unknown heating at the lower bracket requires review.
Is each building below 10,000 m² outside scope?
Appointment may aggregate same-lot or adjacent-lot buildings under common authority, while inspection uses an individual building or housing complex as applicable.
Select multiple-building aggregation and verify this inspection unit’s duty and anchor with the authority.
Does a maintenance contract finish the inspection duty too?
Maintenance outsourcing and registered performance inspection are separate.
Check equipment quantities, reports and included scope; add an external annual quote when inspection is not included.
Can I use last inspection plus one year?
Use periods tied to the statutory anchor, including legacy and pre-permit transition rules.
Compare the authority-confirmed anchor with past reports; an actual inspection date does not reset it.
Why does a cheaper alternative remain on hold?
The comparison needs verified scope/aggregation, actual staffing and coverage for both plans, and dated quote evidence.
Fictional examples leave those checks incomplete and only show arithmetic differences.
Can the appointed Entry manager conduct performance inspection?
That does not follow automatically.
Standard Article 11(2) requires the relevant-field Special and Advanced-or-higher personnel and equipment per building.
This in-house staffing alternative uses an external inspection quote.
Are exported dates official final deadlines?
TXT appointment/report dates are day-30 references before holiday adjustments.
ICS contains only the confirmed inspection period-end reminder; confirm actual triggers, individual anchors and filing cutoffs with the authority.
Official sources and update context
Rules were verified on 2026-10-19 using current-law searches, article text and annexes from the Ministry of Government Legislation OPEN API.
Appointment, reporting and the temporary-recognition extension were checked separately.
- Mechanical Equipment Act: MST219239, effective2020-06-09, Articles17–20 and30.
- Enforcement Decree: MST285443, effective2026-06-01, Article14 and Annexes6–7.
- Enforcement Rule: MST285589, effective2026-06-01, Articles8 and8-2, Annex1 and Rule No717 Supplementary Article2; the extension itself became effective2026-04-16.
- Mechanical Equipment Maintenance Standard: MOLIT Notice2023-695, ID2100000232392, effective2023-11-29, Articles7 and9–12, Annex4, and Notice2021-1013 Supplementary Article3.
- Seoul appointment guidance: supplementary cross-check for period endings and filing procedure; current primary legislation takes precedence.
Annex search serials were 18098113 for appointment, 18085323 for training and 18085325 for inspection-business registration.
The individual-annex API returned HTML, so actual values were cross-checked against Annexes1,6 and7 in the full law XML at the same MSTs.
Recheck later special-facility notices, ranks/training, the temporary period, pricing standards and individual triggers before relying on a saved result.
Jung-gu guidance on appointment and inspection units was also cross-checked on 2026-10-19.
Use its aggregated-appointment versus individual-building/complex distinction as supplementary context; current rules and authority confirmation take precedence over historic dates or reporting instructions.
Compare the result with the register, contract and filing record
Establish building type and aggregation first, then actual appointment and inspection anchor, and finally quotes for the same staffing and inspection scope.
Save or print the inputs, evidence status, assumptions and calculations together; use the period-end reminder to arrange inspection with time to spare.
Building names and addresses are not collected, and completing the checklist does not establish individual eligibility or authority acceptance.