---
title: "ESSAY: Hahoe Mask — An Insignificant Office Worker's Escape, Part 11"
description: "A Seoul guesthouse owner's construction diary: regulation rewrites slash 30 planned rooms down to 19. Revenue projections tumble, but the project moves forward anyway."
published: 2019-11-01T00:00:00+00:00
author: "ONDA 편집팀"
category: "Insights"
image: "https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a9e11b0c834b38b1566799_62e76771ab6135632825b7fe_5e94283473fd9de180897f1d_vol35_seouldalbit-00.jpeg"
canonical: https://global.onda.me/en/blog?slug=essay-hahoetal-hacanheun-hoesaweonyi-talculgi-11
locale: en
---
# ESSAY: Hahoe Mask — An Insignificant Office Worker's Escape, Part 11

## **11. Breaking Ground**

### **– After months of deliberation, we finally break ground**

**Writer: Jung Seung-ho, Seoul Dalbit Guesthouse**

**Editor: Somora, ONDA Manager**

![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b2310cc37451cba6e110_62e76771ab61350b5725b7ff_5e942834459693f1bc75aca3_screenshot-3.png)

![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b2310cc37451cba6e11f_62e76771ab6135c96d25b801_5e942834459693e6c575aca5_screenshot-1-2.png)

[**Seoul Dalbit Guesthouse Dongdaemun (flagship)**](http://bit.ly/seouldbDDM)
Address: 329-18 Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Room types: Small twin, small double, standard twin
Facilities: Common living area and kitchen, rooftop garden
Nearby: Naksan Park, Heunginjimun, DDP, Changsin-dong stationery toy market, Dongmyo flea market

[**Seoul Dalbit Guesthouse DDP (branch)**](http://bit.ly/seoudbDDP)
Address: 74 Jangchung-dong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Room types: Double, family rooms (3-, 4-, 6-person)
Facilities: Common living area and kitchen, rooftop garden
Nearby: Jangchung Gymnasium, Namsan, Gwanghuimun, Cheonggyecheon

**Seoul Dalbit Guesthouse SNS**
Website: [http://seouldalbit.com](http://seouldalbit.com)
Instagram: [@seoul\_dalbit](https://www.instagram.com/seoul_dalbit/)

![vol35_seouldalbit 00](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a9e11b0c834b38b1566799_62e76771ab6135632825b7fe_5e94283473fd9de180897f1d_vol35_seouldalbit-00.jpeg)

After endless wandering, we settled on a building. To convert it to tourism accommodation use, we had to redraft the floor plans to meet regulations. Time kept slipping by. The redraft took longer than expected — complying with every rule about corridor width, wall thickness, door clearance left us with a layout completely different from our original vision.

We'd imagined a Tetris puzzle: L-shaped rooms packed efficiently into the space, yielding nearly 30 rooms total (!). But once we added the regulation 150cm-wide corridor down the center, 30cm+ walls between rooms, and windows with natural light in every unit, we shrank to just 19 rooms.

**In other words, our projected revenue dropped to roughly two-thirds of the original estimate.**

![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b2310cc37451cba6e114_62e76771ab61352b6f25b802_5e9428345f867862ce656533_vol35_seouldalbit-01.png)

That center corridor killed us.

But before we could stress over future revenue, a more pressing calculation loomed: **the first rent payment was due.** As I mentioned in the last installment, when signing a commercial lease — especially one involving heavy renovation — you want to push that first payment as far back as possible. Even more so if zoning approval and design work are in play.

Two full months after signing, the zoning-compliant drawings were finalized. We immediately began hunting for a contractor. Per the lease, rent started in three months. **We had one month left.** Panic set in. Today, I'd hire a designer for both design and construction oversight, then contract specialists separately for electric, plumbing, carpentry, etc. Back then, **we needed someone to handle it all.**

Nowadays, finding contractors is easier — platforms for small job quotes have spread (related article: [http://www.newstomato.com/ReadNews.aspx?no=849380](http://www.newstomato.com/ReadNews.aspx?no=849380)) — but **Korea's small-scale construction market is still rife with information asymmetry favoring suppliers.** Jipdoc, a leading contractor-matching O2O service, even published a book to help consumers navigate this landscape.

Cost was especially tricky. Construction cost breaks into materials and labor. But for the same scope of work, costs balloon or shrink wildly depending on which materials you use (and how much), and which specialists work how many days. Take wallpaper: silk vs. compound paper, flame-retardant or not, underlayment fabric or not — the quote changes dramatically.

**From a buyer's standpoint, the only way to land a reasonable price is to leverage every connection, contact as many contractors as possible, and compare quotes.**

We did just that. Seven companies. We sent each our reference images and floor plans and collected a range of bids. Some sent detailed concept renders and revised drawings along with their quotes. Others sent one or two cryptic pages with no rationale.

The big revelation: **even with identical plans, quotes varied by 1.5× or more** depending on how the contractor planned to execute details and which materials they'd use. Picking the cheapest felt risky — what if the result was shoddy? But the priciest felt like getting fleeced. Deep deliberation ensued.

![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b2310cc37451cba6e119_62e76771ab613505a725b800_5e94283445969389a575aca2_vol35_seouldalbit-02.png)

Quotes — total gibberish at first glance.

We **cut anyone wildly over-budget or suspiciously cheap,** then held multiple meetings to whittle down to five, then three, then two finalists. We hashed out details: color palettes, wall materials, insulation methods, finishes, etc.

Most contractors want you to sign first, then discuss details — understandable, given that reviewing plans and quoting takes labor. But when you're about to drop tens of millions (or hundreds of millions of won), you need to scrutinize every detail.

We were thorough. Too thorough. **Time didn't wait.** The first rent payment came due. We were still choosing a contractor. At this rate, construction delays would eat another month or two of rent.

**So the three of us made an emergency decision: raise more capital.**

The new investor was a friend of one of the partners. As he joined, questions flooded my mind: the three of us had spent 4–5 months together building rapport and experience. Could we mesh with a newcomer? How would we set equity splits and profit distribution — the most sensitive topic? Where do we even start explaining what we've done?

Those worries evaporated quickly. He fit in well, and we agreed on a fair profit-sharing ratio. We drafted a new partnership agreement.

I'll dive deeper into this in a future essay, but: **when partnering with anyone — friend or stranger — always document key terms.** Even if it feels awkward, transparency and documentation prevent misaligned expectations and establish clear decision-making frameworks.

The cash injection gave us breathing room, but we still hadn't picked a contractor. After six weeks, seven candidates became two. One was a one-man shop with rock-bottom pricing and a hustler owner. The other had a solid portfolio, strong design/build chops, but higher pricing.

Now a four-person partnership, we debated fiercely and chose the cheaper option to manage budget, accepting that the result might be less polished. We called the pricier firm to deliver the bad news.

And then — **plot twist.** The pricier contractor, upon hearing they'd lost the bid, **offered to match the cheaper firm's price, cutting nearly 20% off their original quote.**

Once again: _construction pricing is elastic and opaque._ I also felt uneasy. Why the sudden discount? What if they low-balled us, then halfway through claimed they needed more money? (Spoiler: we did end up paying more later…)

After all that, we signed with the contractor and broke ground.

**_Six months after the partners' first meeting. Four months after signing the Dongdaemun lease._**

**\[Series Index\]**

[2019.01 Prologue](https://onda.me/magazine/25/post/1981)
[2019.02 Eyes Open](https://onda.me/magazine/26/post/2102)
[2019.03 Daydreaming](https://onda.me/magazine/27/post/2210)
[2019.04 Observing](https://onda.me/magazine/28/post/2266)
[2019.05 Envisioning](https://onda.me/magazine/29/post/2294)
[2019.06 The Meeting](https://onda.me/magazine/30/post/2371)
[2019.07 Excitement](https://onda.me/magazine/31/post/2434)
[2019.08 Catching Our Breath](https://onda.me/magazine/32/post/2509)
[2019.09 Calculations](https://onda.me/magazine/33/post/2572)
[2019.10 Wandering](https://onda.me/magazine/34/post/2659)
**2019.11 Breaking Ground**
2019.12 Taking Shape
2020.01 Grand Opening
2020.02 Epilogue – The Resignation

## [**Read the full magazine <<**](http://bit.ly/magazineon35)

## [**Subscribe to the magazine <<**](http://bit.ly/magazinesub)