If you live in Vietnam, chances are you live next to a construction site: hotels, condos, shopping centers, etc. But why see the same old site every day when there are so many different ones out there to experience?
That was the question that inspired Phạm Công Trường to launch his startup, ConstructionBnB — a service that lets you plan a vacation next to your ideal construction site.
“Around 2016,” Trường tells Saigoneer, “I was living near a metro station. Every day I saw the same building, the same railway. The construction had stopped, but nothing was happening. It got so boring. Then one day, I was in Saigon and I walked past the construction site of Landmark 81, I saw the tallest crane that I have ever seen in my life. I mean it was a marvel of human engineering!”
That discovery made Trường wonder what else he had been missing: “There are countless construction sites in Vietnam right now, who knows what may be out there?”
He spent the next few years traveling and discovering different sites all over the country. "Once I stood in the center of a newly excavated reservoir for a hydropower dam," he says. "I felt so small in all that space. It was humbling."
Over time, Trường built relationships with homeowners and contractors, and when the network was strong enough, ConstructionBnB was born. “My wish is just to make construction tourism more accessible for others,” Trường affirms.
Nguyễn Lãng Du, one of Trường’s earliest clients, says he has had many wonderful experiences with the service. “Do you know that truckers are very creative with their headlights? Near some sites, you can see a beautiful lightshow at night. And you don’t even have to worry about missing the show because of sleep, as the lights will be on throughout the night.”
Du adds that ConstructionBnb is great for digital nomads: “The constant noise makes an ideal background sound for working. And if you get a headache from too much screen time, the hammers can ‘air-massage’ your brain.”
As Vietnam recovers from the pandemic, both the tourism and construction sectors are back on track. Trường is very optimistic about the future of his startup. "I think more and more people will realize the value of construction tourism," he shares. "And while we have less and less nature, there will always be more construction sites to explore."
Editor's note: Happy April Fools' Day! This article is part of Saigoneer's 2022 April Fools' Day celebration. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the writer’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
