A Redwood City, Calif. company says it can save you time, money and frustration when you're ready to do a bath or kitchen renovation in your new home.

ImproveNet.com is taking advantage of the Internet's interactive capabilities. It's Web site can help with just about any home improvement project from cabinetry and flooring to decks and landscaping. It will also help you find a local contractor, architect or designer. But for this report we'll focus on two of the site's new features: the kitchen and bath estimators.

ImproveNet's goal is to help homeowners with projects by giving them design ideas and hooking them up with pros to do the work -- if that's what the customer wants. ImproveNet's online design center helps customers visualize various kitchen and bathroom styles.

You follow some simple steps on the site to design your project and, with a click of the mouse, submit it to ImproveNet.

Qualified contractors
The company then searches its database of more than 600,000 remodeling professionals who, ImproveNet says, have been put through rigorous credit, legal, insurance and license checks.

"We filter them through checks before putting them in the database and eliminate half of them right out of the gate," says spokeswoman Nora DePalma. "If you go through the Yellow Pages you don't know what you're getting."

When you submit a project, ImproveNet sends a description of it to local professionals in the database. The first four pros who ask to meet with you are given contact information -- if one of them submits a winning bid, he pays ImproveNet a fee for getting the job.

The best part about this is that you should be spared sticker shock. The ImproveNet kitchen and bath estimators let you select just about every item you'll need to build your dream bathroom or kitchen.

You can save your work in a file and come back later to make changes. By entering your ZIP code ImproveNet is able to give you a good idea of what fixtures, cabinets and the like cost in your area. If the total price is a budget-buster but you really want those Corian̉ countertops, you've got the option of cutting back to cheaper cabinets or flooring with the click of your mouse.

"It's a benefit to everyone, not just the homeowners, but the pros, too," says DePalma. "Getting an estimate can be frustrating. The contractor does all the estimating, the homeowner sees the price for the first time and falls apart -- the contractor's done all this work -- everybody's upset."

Power to the homeowners
Since ImproveNet became available nationwide in August 1997, it's received more than 123,000 job submissions from customers -- projects valued at $3 billion, according to DePalma.

ImproveNet also has message boards where people can tap into the knowledge and experience of other homeowners or ask questions of on-staff pros. DePalma says the company relies on consumer feedback to improve its services.

"We know the homeowner sometimes felt lost in the process -- 'OK, now I have a contractor, what do I do next?' So, we added personal project Advisers. They're set up around the country so they get to know professionals in the area."

DePalma says the project Adviser and the rep work as a team to help the homeowner get through the project -- and make sure the consumer is happy with the end result.

All of the ImproveNet services mentioned are free to the consumer. But, if you'd like ImproveNet to do a background check on a remodeling professional who isn't in its database, there is a fee. The information regarding this is on the Web site.

-- Posted: Jan. 31, 2000

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