Sears' ServiceLive intends to take the hassle out of hiring pros

Hoping to simplify the often arduous task of finding qualified, reputable pros for your home projects and repairs, Sears Holding Company announced the beta launch of ServiceLive.com today. "We have created a marketplace that puts the homeowner back in the driver's seat by allowing them to name the terms and manage the process completely online," said George Coll, president of ServiceLive. "It benefits service providers as well by creating job opportunities and enabling speedy payment."

Here's how it works: After you enter your ZIP code on the ServiceLive home page, you select the category and type of work, choose from a list of rated and unrated contractors you're willing to work with, and provide a detailed description of the project; you can even include pictures and other documents to help describe the job.

You also indicate how much you're willing to spend on labor and materials and when you want the job done. If you have no clue how much it costs to do a certain job, you can get pricing guidelines from the site. (ServiceLive makes its money from your $10 per-job posting fee, waived until the end of this month, and the 10 percent commission it gets from contractors for completed work.)

The first contractor to accept your conditions gets the job. Instead of the customary one-third payment schedule—with payments made at contract signing and at the start and completion of the work—you deposit funds into your ServiceLive account with a credit card or through an electronic-payment system. The contractor gets paid when the you're satisfied with the job. At the end of the work, you fill out a user review, which should help others find the good pros and avoid the bad ones.

ServiceLive said that it has spent the last year recruiting and conducting background checks on service providers. So far, 9,000 pros have been vetted, and another 23,000 have registered. Searches for roofers, painters, and contractors near our Yonkers, New York, headquarters produced lists of pros, but few had user reviews. That should change as more people use the site.—Gian Trotta

Essential information: Use our tools for hiring a handyman and read our scam alerts for chimney sweeps, duct-cleaning services, and alarm companies. And check the Better Business Bureau's new report on the complaint rates of more than 5,000 different service businesses.