Home Remodeling Gets Retooled How one online venture is working to update an old industry

A traditionally offline sector such as home remodeling may not seem the likeliest candidate for a next-generation technological overhaul, but Brian Javeline would beg to differ: His MyOnlineToolbox promises to reinvent how contractors do business.

MyOnlineToolbox gives builders a web-based platform to manage customers, vendors and subcontractors, schedule work orders, create and track invoices and order materials from wherever their work may lead them.

"Contractors are evolving--many people stereotype them as sloppy and criticize them for not answering their phones, says Javeline, president and CEO of Pompano Beach, Fla.-based ServusXchange, the virtual solutions provider behind MyOnlineToolbox. "Their business is mobile--they're all over the place, and always in the car. They're forced to play catch-up on their business on their nights and weekends.