Start-up connects homeowners, workers

ServiceMagic.com, a San Francisco-based home services marketplace, hopes to cash in as an online connection point between homeowners and those who do handiwork. Customers must complete a service request form on the site, which will then list as many as three prescreened and interested service contractors, painters, maids or other professionals. The site will also offer performance ratings from neighbors.

Although ServiceMagic is targeting home owners specifically, broader-based personal service companies have not fared well. In October, home services and miscellaneous errands provider MyLackey.com closed after investors bailed out. The closure came six months after the Seattle-based company's ballyhooed debut and attempts by similar companies to do clients' chores.