Many French architects living in Indo-China borrowed building techniques and decoration patterns from Vietnamese and Chinese architecture.

To build the walls and roof of their houses, the Hmong and the Dao use one of the most popular woods in the area, peumou (Fokienia Hodginsii) also called "coffin wood" because the Hmong and the Chinese like to bury their dead in it. 

These wood-frame houses have become very rare.

Made of strong durable wood (such as "iron wood" called Lime), these houses are built on stilts, with the traditional palm roof to keep the summer heat away.