Reconstruction of The Alexander apartment complex in south Reno comes as a blessing to hard-pressed subcontractors re-employed by developer A.G. Spanos Companies.

Some subcontractors on the job say they plan to add employees in the coming months.

Twenty-three buildings totaling 230 units were destroyed in a fire started by an arsonist on July 30. Reconstruction of The Alexander complex will employ as many as 200 tradesmen through the winter, says Peter Rossick, division manager for A.G. Spanos Companies, headquartered at Stockton, Calif.

Construction now is expected to be completed by August of 2010. When the fire started, framing on all units was finished, and crews were working to complete stucco, sheetrock and roofing toward a goal of January completion.

Demolition crews recently finished breaking out the old concrete pads from the buildings destroyed by fire, and concrete crews have begun re-forming the foundations.

To expedite construction — as well as make it easier to work with the project’s insurers — Spanos is using most of the same contractors. Rossick estimates rebuilding the complex will cost about $20 million.

Construction should progress slightly faster than before because working surfaces are in place, and all major underground infrastructure work has already been completed, Rossick says.

Jared Overmier, vice president of CJS Plumbing Inc. of Reno, which was contracted to install all the plumbing, heating and air conditioning at the complex, has put crews back to work digging trenches for waste pipe plumbing to individual buildings.

CJS once employed 35 in Nevada but is down to seven. Company-wide, its total staff of 35 in California and Nevada is only a tenth of its workforce at the height of the construction boom. CJS has hired back four plumbers and expects to re-hire another 10 to 12 in the coming months, Overmier says.

About 20 plumbers were employed at the original construction of The Alexander.

“We had some good employees we had to let go, and they couldn’t find work in any industry,” Overmier says. “The Alexander burning down is not a good thing — we do a lot of work for Mr. Spanos in California, and it is not good for anybody — but if anyone benefits it is the employees.”

Julie Lazovich, general manager of Falcon Roofing, says the project comes when roofing work historically slows dramatically with the arrival of winter weather. Falcon employed a crew of eight during the first phase, and Lazovich expects to employ about the same number once buildings are framed.

“It goes without saying that it is a very unfortunate situation, and I am thankful nobody was hurt,” she says. “It is a benefit for us to have some work through the winter. We are slow right now, and we are very appreciative to have more work. But with the monetary situation and possibility of people getting hurt, it is kind of a double-edged sword.”

Brandon Congdon, general manager of ScareCrow Lath and Plaster, employed about 30 men at The Alexander. He says it was a dark day when he had to tell his crew they weren’t working anymore after the fire.

“None of them even believed it was true,” Congdon says.

To avoid layoffs, ScareCrow kept the majority of its staff but slashed hours. He expects to employ roughly the same number once buildings are framed again.

“We decided as a team to sacrifice hours versus sacrificing people,” Congdon says. “I am sure there are guys who would rather have had it the other way, but we made a decision and stuck with it. The payoff is instead of being busy when things are slow, we are going to be busy when things are dead.”

Security measures have been increased at the site. Before the fire, Spanos had hired a security company that made rounds at that site and other stops in south Reno, and the fire broke out soon after the guard completed his checks at The Alexander. Spanos now has a guard shack at the construction entrance that is monitored 24 hours a day, and security cameras also will be installed as framing goes up.

“We will definitely tighten security. But I don’t know what else we could have done,” Rossick says.