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General contactor Lorentz Bruun Co. staked its reputation on finishing a project to remodel a Mount Hood resort in one season. But even shifts of 400 workers weren’t going to be enough for the firm to replace the roofs on the 24-building Collins Lake Resort before winter weather arrived.

So the company pushed it to nearly 500 people.

鈥淲e had to make the decision whether to save some buildings for next year,鈥� said Mark Bruun, executive vice president. 鈥淲e decided that accelerating and having (three) shifts seven days a week, adding crews and management staff was cheaper than spreading it over two years and easier on the homeowners.

鈥淭he good news is we’re going to make it,鈥� Bruun said. 鈥淎bout nobody thought we could do it. Our competition said this was a two- or three-year job.鈥�

The project required tearing off the roofs of the 151-unit complex and replacing them with 2,600 specially engineered trusses. Workers also replaced siding, shored up the foundation and made other repairs to make sure the resort could handle the Government Camp snow loads.

Those mountain snows held off during the project. Workers did have to deal with rain, Bruun said, but not so much that it threw the schedule off.

鈥淲e got enough tarps that, if you added them up, they would cover the whole Rose Garden,鈥� Bruun said. 鈥淲hen it rained, every single subcontractor worked together to tarp the place.鈥�

Some of the stress lifted Sept. 10, Bruun said. That’s the date the critical exterior roof and siding work wrapped up, allowing the buildings to withstand the rain.

Project manager Eric Saunders watched the weather with a sense of dread. 鈥淚t was getting to the time of year where you’re just like, 鈥極h, God, please, please, please hold off another day,’ 鈥� he said. 鈥淲e hit that date where we were dried in, and two days later, we had snow.鈥�

Lower roof work should wrap up Tuesday, Bruun said, with only final touches and cleanup remaining. Condo owners can start moving back in the weekend before Thanksgiving.

That’s a huge relief, said Brett Fischer, a condo owner and general manager of Mt. Hood Management, which handles 55 rental units at the resort. Without knowing when work would wrap up, Fischer said, he could book only tentative reservations for November and December.

鈥淲e had a lot of people who were calling, and we didn’t know exactly when it was going to open,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have probably 40 or 50 people we had to call back and make reservations.鈥�

Even with construction wrapping up, the resort atmosphere won’t return to normal right away, Fischer said. 鈥淲e have realistic expectations.

鈥淭here was a lot of work done, and there’s a lot of dust in the units,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow the difficulty comes with coordinating getting people back in.鈥�