2 years to build a 30 billion wooden house of a Ha Tinh tycoon

At the end of August, a 5-storey wooden house, 28 m high, located on the central street of Ha Tinh City (Ha Tinh) was put into use, causing many passersby to look up, because of its strange appearance in the middle of a neighborhood full of concrete.

The owner of the house, Mr. Nguyen Van Lan (75 years old, former business owner) said that he had cherished the idea of ​​building a wooden house for a long time, but many people said it was difficult, and he could not arrange the time. When he was at a leisurely age, he was determined to do it.

In early 2015, Mr. Lan bought 600 blocks of wood from Laos, including 22 green star wood columns, 28 m high, the largest diameter is 95 cm, then hired a car to transport them to Vietnam. "I gathered the wood in Ha Tinh City, reported to the Forest Protection Department so they could come and check, when it was determined to be legal, I deployed manpower to do it," he said.

He chose a 10x18 m plot of land on National Highway 1A, in the center of Ha Tinh City, to build his house. He called a familiar craftsman to design and build a 5-storey house, but this person shook his head, saying that he could do 3 floors, but he was "unable" to do 5 floors.

The next 5 groups of workers who came to observe did not dare accept the job, because the land was small and had houses on both sides. "A few weeks later, through an introduction, a worker from Nam Dinh came to see me and said he could do it. Through his words and persuasion, I trusted him and cooperated," Mr. Lan said.

The homeowner shared that with large blocks of wood, they had to do experiments first. He had the workers cut the wood into columns, expose it to the sun and rain for 3 months, then check again, if the wood was still straight, then decide to chisel and saw to make it. The result was within expectations, the wood did not bend or deteriorate when exposed to harsh weather.

At the end of April 2015, Mr. Lan erected the first two wooden pillars. According to him, this was the most difficult stage, requiring the use of many cranes to hold the pillars and join the beams together. "The land here is narrow and the roads are busy, so moving the wooden blocks is extremely difficult. By the time the fourth pillar was erected, everything began to fall into place," said Mr. Lan.

The 75-year-old tycoon shared that the cost of building the house was around 30 billion VND. At peak times, there were about 100 workers and laborers working continuously. The plan was to complete it in 1.5 years, but because of many unexpected steps, it took more than 2 years to complete, and by the time all the furniture was purchased, it was already the 3rd year.

The front doors are made of glass, some with elaborate, eye-catching carvings. The owner plans to use the 2nd and 3rd floors for business; the 4th and 5th floors for family.The vacant land behind will be planted with trees to provide shade.

"This green star wood is very durable, in Laos and Thailand it is often used to build boats, it can be left for hundreds of years without any problems. The house's electrical system is installed with modern explosion-proof wires, when an incident occurs, it will immediately cut off in intervals. To go to the floors, in addition to taking the stairs, you can use the elevator," said Mr. Lan.

When building this house, Mr. Lan received many compliments and criticisms. Many peopleI asked him why he didn't find a larger piece of land to build a nicer house, but he said "the current one is already satisfactory and beautiful, no need to repair anything more".

Mr. Hoang Quoc Huan, Head of Ha Tinh Forestry Department, said that the wood used to build the house was imported from abroad, had complete documents and was used legally.