Reading a Vietnamese Pest Control Quotation

A Vietnamese pest control quotation, a báo giá, is typically a single page with a small table. It looks sparse compared with what you may be used to, and that is a convention rather than a warning sign.

What matters is knowing which lines carry meaning, and which absences should prompt a question.

The header

You will see the company name, tax code (MST), address and a document number. The tax code is worth noting: a company issuing a proper báo giá with an MST is a registered business that can issue a red invoice (hóa đơn đỏ), which you will need if an employer or a landlord is reimbursing you.

A quotation sent as a message with no header and no tax code is not necessarily bad work, but it is not a document anyone will accept as an expense.

The table, line by line

• Hạng mục / Nội dung công việc — the item or scope of work.
• Đối tượng — the target species. This should name what is being treated, not just say côn trùng.
• Diện tích — area in square metres, which is how most pricing here is built.
• Đơn giá — unit price. Số lần — number of visits. Thành tiền — line total.
• Bảo hành — warranty period, usually expressed in months.
• Chưa bao gồm VAT — excluding VAT, which is very common and adds 8 to 10 per cent.

The four things usually missing

Most cheap quotations omit the same four things, and each of them is where a job either succeeds or turns into a second call.

First, the number of follow-up visits and whether they are included — a single treatment for German cockroaches without a follow-up at two weeks will not hold, because eggs present on the day hatch after it. Second, the method: phun alone tells you it is spray only, with no bait and no dust. Third, the products, by active ingredient. Fourth, what happens if the problem returns inside the warranty period.

How to compare two quotations honestly

Prices for the same apartment can differ by a factor of three, and the cheapest is often quoting a different job rather than the same job cheaper. Put them side by side on four axes: number of visits, methods used, warranty length, and whether a written report is issued.

A quotation with two visits, bait and dust as well as spray, a six-month warranty and a report is not comparable with a one-visit spray at half the price. It may still be the wrong choice for your situation, but the comparison has to be on the same terms.

What is reasonable to ask for

Ask for the active ingredients in writing, ask what happens if it comes back, and ask whether the follow-up is included or charged. All three are ordinary questions and any established company answers them without difficulty. A company that will not put the active ingredient in writing is a company you can safely decline.

For a business, also ask whether the service report is issued in a form an auditor will accept, because that is frequently the actual reason you are buying the service.

On price levels

We will not publish a rate here, because pricing in this market is built from a starting fee plus an area rate, and a single figure quoted per square metre reliably understates the cost of a small property and overstates a large one. What we will say is that the range for a standard apartment treatment in Ho Chi Minh City is wide, that the bottom of it is usually a single spray visit, and that the difference between the bottom and the middle is mostly follow-up visits rather than product quality.

Related reading

The vocabulary is in our glossary, and the general version of this in what a quotation should tell you. For choosing between companies see how to choose a company and comparing two proposals fairly. Our own rates are set out on the price list. Our parent company publishes its Vietnamese-language services at khutrungtoancau.vn.

Global Pest Control is the English-language arm of Khử Trùng Toàn Cầu. Our quotations come in English and Vietnamese on one page.

Common questions

The quotation says "côn trùng" without naming a species. Does that matter?

Yes, because different species need genuinely different methods and a generic scope usually means a generic spray. Ask for the target species to be named. If the answer is that they will decide on the day, that is reasonable only if a survey is happening first, in which case the quotation should follow the survey rather than precede it.

Should I expect a site visit before a quotation?

For an apartment, not necessarily — area and species are often enough for an accurate figure. For a house, a villa, a restaurant or anything commercial, a quotation issued without a site visit is a guess, and the number will change once somebody sees the property. A company that insists on surveying a restaurant first is being careful rather than difficult.

Is VAT usually included?

Frequently not, and chưa bao gồm VAT at the bottom of the table is easy to miss. It is worth confirming, because the difference decides which of two quotations is actually cheaper, and because you will want the red invoice if anyone is reimbursing you.