Among owners of single family homes, product appearance and quality are more important than price. It is also much more difficult for foreign companies to break into the high rise apartment sector. The ability to extend financing to a construction company is often a determining factor for awarding contracts as opposed to low price or high quality products. Many Korean and non-Korean companies also report that it can be difficult to receive payment from large construction firms. The Korean public's perception of wood frame homes is generally positive.
Korean people view wood homes and wood in general as healthy and aesthetically pleasing.
However, the high cost of building materials and restrictive financing limits single-family home ownership to the affluent. The two most significant barriers are the Korean building code and lack of technical transfer. The existing building code places provisions on fire standards and accepted height and total floor area of wood frame buildings, yet it does not include detailed requirements for structural aspects such as proper engineering principles, material use, and foundations. The lack of a detailed building code leaves room for the possibility that construction companies that do not have a complete understanding of proper wood frame housing construction may build substandard homes. The impact of poorly built homes may be compounded by the absence of building inspectors for wood frame housing.