Chairman of KLB Joint Stock Company: “Weathering the Storm Through Product Quality”
Mr. Bui Trong Tan, Chairman of KLB Joint Stock Company, believes that one of the key strategies helping his business overcome numerous challenges lies in having a clear strategy and focusing on product quality as the core foundation.
+ 2023 was a very challenging year for real estate businesses due to the volatile socio-economic landscape. What did your company do to cope with these pressures?
I believe the greatest concern for any seller must always be product quality. Our principle is: build homes for others better than we would for ourselves.
That’s why, over the past year, the KLB team and our contractors have worked relentlessly to speed up apartment handovers, constantly improving the quality of our buildings and ensuring consistency in infrastructure and services to create truly livable spaces for residents. Achieving this required us to work five to ten times harder than in previous years.
+ Could you elaborate on the challenges your company had to overcome in 2023?
Two years ago, project construction was nearly halted due to mandatory isolation and pandemic control measures. Even during periods without lockdown, there were no workers on site because they were afraid to return to Hanoi or were restricted due to vaccination and travel document requirements.
As a result, our projects fell behind schedule, leading to a domino effect: contractors faced financial strain due to prolonged timelines and tighter credit policies; we had to support them with payments for materials and labor; and we had to negotiate with customers to delay home deliveries.
Moreover, the Zero-COVID policies in China and other countries severely disrupted the import of machinery, equipment, and materials. For example, under normal conditions, it took us 3–4 months to import a batch of Hitachi elevators to Vietnam. During the pandemic, that timeline stretched to nearly a year.
Once everything returned to “normal,” a mountain of backlogged work awaited. At that point, we had no choice but to give our all in order to stay afloat and resolve every issue.
+ Many real estate businesses faced similar difficulties. What was the key for your company to “ride the waves” and successfully deliver Feliz Homes?
Each business has its own way of operating. At KLB, our strategy is adaptation and risk control. In 2023, real estate businesses had to grapple with severe hardships, particularly the tightening of financial policies, which significantly impacted project progress and cash flow.
We were able to overcome this because we had anticipated potential risks from the very beginning and included contingency plans in our strategy. So when risks became reality, we were not shocked but rather ready to adapt and resolve the issues.
I also pay special attention to managing project execution. The tougher the environment, the more effective tight control becomes. For example, during Feliz Homes’ construction, even though we paid our contractors in full, if they fell behind schedule, we had immediate solutions—bringing in new contractors if necessary, even if it meant higher costs for us. As a result, almost everything remained under control.
+ Will your business continue to focus on real estate in 2024, or are there plans to expand into other fields?
In addition to real estate as our core sector, we plan to expand into various other fields such as trade and services, resort tourism, healthcare, and wellness. KLB will continue to go both deeper and wider in areas where we have strengths, creating new internal momentum with improved quality and performance.
+ Thank you very much for your time!
