Worry more about playing Tet than eating Tet?

Nowadays, people tend to celebrate Tet instead of just focusing on preparing food for Tet like before. And the first thing is to beautify their homes, those who have more conditions even make miniature landscapes to welcome Tet.

Decorate a bright space to welcome a lucky spring - Photo: YEN TRINH

Having a house in an alley on Nguyen Van Dau Street (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City), Mr. Le Ha (45 years old) is usually busy with work and travels to the province a lot, so he took advantage of the past few days to come back and renovate his house to welcome Tet.

This is also the time when many people want to beautify, warm and make their home more joyful. "I chose a company specializing in home repair, located in Tan Binh district, to repaint the walls and tile the floor. They finished in 3 days," said Mr. Ha.

Renovate for a lucky new year

Although this year's income is not as expected, Mr. Ha plans to decorate and prepare the house for a prosperous new year. He said: "My family will buy chrysanthemums and paper flowers to display on the porch, buy watermelons and grapefruits and paste red paper, buy colored paper to decorate the altars of our ancestors. The leaves of the apricot trees on the porch were picked on the 15th day of the 12th lunar month."

Around December 23, he will scrub the candlesticks and clean the altar. He will not forget to buy white sand to replace the incense burner, incense to make the house fragrant, and prepare a plate of betel and areca nuts to burn incense. The family will hire a cleaning service to clean the house, wipe the windows...

Owning a 40m2 house with one ground floor and one upper floor in an alley on Nguyen Quy Anh Street (Tan Phu District), Ms. Phuong Trang (44 years old) said she planned to ask her younger brother to hire a service to paint the walls and re-tile the floor. If she has time, she will renovate the upper floor to be more modern because the house has deteriorated after a long time of renting. "The company quoted a price of 70,000 VND/m2 for painting. We only painted the walls and tiled the floor because it's near Tet," she said.

In a cool alley on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street (District 3), two young workers are carefully scraping off the old paint and sanding it to apply new paint to the fence of a villa. Before that, they trimmed and cut off the bougainvillea branches, revealing a blank wall for easy construction.

Sanding steadily in the spring sunshine, Mr. Dung (29 years old, painter, living in Binh Chanh district) said that his team is very busy these days. Standing next to him, Mr. Nguyen Huu Trang, a contractor, said: "The fence of this house is large, so we will probably finish it in two days. Usually, we accept construction work until around December 26. More complicated projects have to wait until January."

With nearly 30 years of experience in the construction and home repair industry, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhieu (60 years old, living in Phu Nhuan district) said that near Tet, many people have the need to renovate and repair their homes. His team of 7 people, including painters, electricians, plumbers, tilers, door repairmen... always tries to complete the work on schedule and with quality so that customers can enjoy Tet with peace of mind. "Working during Tet, seeing customers satisfied makes me happy," he smiled.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nhieu repaints the wall of a house in District 3 (HCMC) on December 17 - Photo: Y.TR.

Free TV and cleaning package after repair

Carrying a small bucket of paint, carefully painting the wall next to the window, Mr. Nhieu said he would undertake repairs and renovations to houses and shops until December 28. This house in District 3 that he and a worker are repairing includes knocking down the middle wall to make a large window, painting white, and decorating the walls.

"Many customers also ask for advice on paint colors and floor tiles that suit their space and budget. We often provide color charts and explain the characteristics and advantages of materials to help customers choose easily," he said. He said that painting and tiling apartments is often simpler than for townhouses with elaborate structures.

Providing interior and exterior painting services, flooring and some functional design, employee Huong of VQ company (Go Vap district) said that the workers will come to the house to survey the price a few hours after the customer calls and agree on the repair plan. "For the preliminary design, we do not charge extra, using hand-drawn sketches of what the customer wants," she said.

Mr. Le Thanh Tien (NV company, Binh Thanh district), 10 years in the industry, said the price to repaint a wall is about 125,000 - 145,000 VND/m2 depending on the type of paint. He gave an example of an 80m2 apartment that will be completed in 4 - 5 days, with a two-year warranty. "We will paint one primer coat and two top coats. Customers can rest assured because we are committed to the schedule, otherwise we will deduct 20% of the contract value from the customer," he said.

An employee of VQ company (Go Vap district) said that demand has increased in the last months of the year. "Vietnamese people have long had the habit of renovating, decorating, and cleaning their houses to welcome fortune. Customers choose to repair before Tet with the mentality that everything is new in the new year and usually do it 30-40 days before Tet."

This unit accepts many items such as handling cracked walls, mold, tiling, wallpaper, electrical systems, room expansion... In which the price for flooring is 160,000 - 500,000 VND/m2 depending on the structure and type of tile. The labor cost of about 60,000 VND/m2 will be added to the total cost.

To attract customers, some companies launch promotional packages that give away TVs and house cleaning after completion. VQ Company said that if the contract is around 100 million, it will support a cleaning package of several million VND. NV Company gives away a cleaning package and if the contract is from 900 million to 1 billion, it will give away a refrigerator worth 15 million VND, and if the contract is over 1.5 billion, it will give away a TV worth 20 million VND.

Lots of cleaning to do when Tet comes

With no need for renovation, many families choose a house cleaning package. When it comes to cleaning a house of more than 90 square meters with two rooms, Ms. Le Thi Tu (owner of a catering establishment in Hoc Mon) said that because of the many things at the end of the year, she often asks someone to clean the house.

She said: "My house has just been renovated so cleaning is easy, just mopping the floor, doors, dusting, washing curtains... I often ask an acquaintance who specializes in cooking for parties and also cleaning the house for Tet, paying 500,000 VND."

According to her, if you hire a service company or book a schedule through a house cleaning app, the cost is cheaper, but it is not as convenient as using a familiar person. The general cleaning price includes cleaning the living room, kitchen, porch, wiping tables and chairs, vacuuming, wiping doors, arranging furniture, wiping statues, sofas, shelves, cleaning trash cans... on average 70,000 VND/hour and the service fee for one rental is 200,000 VND. Thus, a 2-hour rental costs a total of 340,000 VND.

In addition to hourly cleaning, many companies offer general cleaning services for floors, ceilings, interiors, odor treatment, disinfection... calculated based on floor area (total area of ​​all floors in the house). Small houses cost 1.2 million VND in total, 100m2 floor area costs about 2.1 million VND. To retain customers, TK company (Binh Thanh district) offers a 10 - 20% discount for customers who continue to use the service monthly or quarterly.

Demand increased by 30 - 50% compared to normal days

A survey of some companies in Ho Chi Minh City that provide house cleaning services shows that demand increases 30-50% during Tet. When making an appointment, depending on the distance, the staff will arrive after 30 minutes to an hour.

"Just tell the staff clearly what you need to clean when they come. The cost is calculated by the hour, for example, two hours is 300,000 VND in total," said a consultant from a service company in Tan Binh district.

Clean and decorate early to avoid rush

According to Mr. Le Ha’s experience and advice from home repair and cleaning services, those in need should plan to renovate from the 11th lunar month or earlier to avoid having to run around. If there is anything unsatisfactory, customers can request to make adjustments in time for Tet.

Mr. Le Ha bought flowers to decorate for Tet - Photo: Y.TRINH

With cleaning and decorating, if we do it ourselves, we should "develop" it gradually to avoid messy hair. For example, the homeowner can take advantage of a few free hours in December to arrange and get rid of old clothes; clean the tables and chairs; wash the curtains and buy flowers.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lo-choi-tet-nhieu-hon-an-tet-20250116231824405.htm