Lost amid the headlines generated by Tamarack Resort's bankruptcy are the stories of Idaho contractors who may never see the millions owed them for work they did on the resort.

Contractors have filed 77 liens against Tamarack for more than $22 million in unpaid bills, according to Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank that began foreclosure proceedings against Tamarack last March after the resort defaulted on a $260 million loan. Companies owned by Tamarack principals Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel Afif filed for bankruptcy protection to block this and other foreclosures.

The liens range from $3,000 for the installation of three computer-designed steel garage doors at a parking garage to $1.4 million for work performed on the condominiums at Tamarack Village.

One contractor who does not expect to get paid is Marc Anderson, owner of Independent Metal Fab in Middleton, which filed a lien for $67,000 spent installing steel canopies, facades on storefronts, columns and connecting steel on structures. That does not include the $1,800 a month Anderson spent between January and June 2007 for housing his crew at Tamarack.

Anderson said the general contractor who hired him, Banner/Sabey II LLC, told him last December that Tamarack had stopped paying its bills. "So they reassigned the contract to Village Plaza Construction (a Tamarack subsidiary), and told me it was up to me to collect from Tamarack," he said.

The loss has forced Anderson to cut his four-person work force to two, work longer hours and withdraw $10,000 from his 401(k) retirement account to pay his federal taxes. "Which when you add on the penalties for (early withdrawal) will probably cost more like $20,000," he said.

He said that even if he had the money to sue, finding a lawyer willing to take the case would not be easy.

"My attorney had a conflict, so he referred me to another attorney, who said he wouldn't touch it because 'this mess isn't going to be resolved in my lifetime.'"

Another problem facing contractors is that Credit Suisse is not the only big bank with Tamarack in its sights.

Bank of America wants to foreclose on the resort's conference center and is threatening to remove the Buttercup and Wildwood ski lifts because of back lease payments. Sterling Bank has begun foreclosure proceedings on the resort's employee housing.

Some investors, including tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, have dropped plans to take part in the resort.

The resort has said it hopes to sell $670 million in bonds to resume construction. Spokesman Ken Rider said the company's board expects to decide by mid-October whether it can obtain financing or whether it must sell the project.

Eric Stunz, president of Overhead Doors of Southwest Idaho, said his New Plymouth shop spent a day and a half installing the three garage doors. He said it would probably cost him more to sue Tamarack than he would ever collect.

"It would be like spending dollars to chase pennies," Stunz said. "Luckily, it was only one job, because we bid a bunch of work up there."

Quality Tile Roofing Inc. of Boise heard about Tamarack's financial problems before it went to work for the resort last autumn. To protect itself, it insisted on "fairly tight payment" provisions in its contract, Vice President Kent Tolley said.

"We were one of the few that got paid on a regular basis until the wheels came off," Tolley said.

But Tamarack still owes the company about $200,000 for work including architectural metal roofing, deck coating and water-proofing a garage roof.

Contractors might not be left out in the cold, said a Boise lawyer for a Meridian contractor who is suing for $1.4 million.

Under Idaho law, contractors would be paid first if the general contractor, Banner/Sabey, had begun work at the resort before Credit Suisse recorded its mortgage on Tamarack in 2006, Geoffrey J. McConnell said.

"It's going to depend on who got there first," McConnell said. "On paper, it looks like the general contractor started work before Credit Suisse Group's mortgage was recorded."

That provision applies to subcontractors even if their share of the work did not start until Credit Suisse's mortgage went into effect, he said.

A contractor who remains optimistic he will be paid is Brian Whipple, president of Interior Systems Inc., a Boise drywall company still owed "six figures" for work done on Tamarack Village. He thinks someone will finish the project and pay for the work.

"I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow, but I just can't imagine that a project like this would not get built out," he said.

Anderson, the Middleton metal contractor, said Tamarack must find financing soon if some of the work already performed is to be salvaged.

"Some of the buildings don't have a roof or windows," he said. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that one more winter in a place where you get 10 feet of snow, and you'll have to tear it down and start over."

Joe Estrella: 377-6465