Few builders these days do not have Web sites. Many sites are increasingly sophisticated, with virtual tours and ways to let potential buyers design their dream houses with several clicks of a mouse.

But the number of houses that consumers are buying online is still relatively small. Real estate agents and builders alike say the major use of the Internet by consumers is to narrow their choices of houses and neighborhoods from the comfort of their computer desk. Then, later, would-be buyers personally visit the houses and developments in which they are most interested.

I can attest to this from personal experience.

After monitoring real estate web sites for several months, my wife was able to track down a house to her liking in a neighborhood of her liking in the town in which we had chosen to live. One visit convinced us that this was the place. By logging back into the Internet when she got to work, she found that the asking price was out of line with comparable houses in the neighborhood and used that information successfully as a negotiating tool.

Where the Internet is having a huge effect, however, is in establishing relationships between builders and product suppliers -- what is known as business-to-business, or B2B.

Such contact changes time and distance constraints and results in a more efficient market. New business models are emerging with a totally different vocabulary and references and much more rapid decision-making.

The Internet can reduce costs by virtue of higher productivity and better inventory control. Because the Internet helps makes product distribution channels more direct, the need for a middleman is reduced or removed entirely, resulting in lower costs.

Builders are finding the Internet an excellent product-research tool.

"What used to take two weeks now takes no more than 10 minutes," said Phil Greenleaf, a member of the research and development team of Toll Brothers, a luxury-home builder that builds houses in 17 other states.

"Instant access to product specs, installation instructions, diagrams and the like all are easily available online," Greenleaf said.

Research and development teams peruse product literature and specifications and contact product managers directly.

"If a project manager asks our group to find a particular product that a customer or a subcontractor mentions, it can be found in a matter of minutes versus weeks in the old days," Greenleaf said.

"Because of great enhancements in business-to-business use of the Web, our service to our consumers improves as a result," he said.

Research and development teams peruse product literature and specifications and contact product managers directly.

One of the best Web sites Toll's Greenleaf has found is General Electric's.

"It is easy to use and has endless amounts of information," Greenleaf said.

Those seem to be the keys to the popularity of manufacturers' Web sites, according to an annual survey of builders and contractors by Building Products magazine.

The magazine's November/December issue again published its list of 50 favorite Web sites, using as criteria whether the site had a search engine, a site map, e-commerce capability (products for sale via the Internet), a dealer locator, links to other sites, specifications, installation instructions, photos and illustrations, and technical assistance.

Jean Dimeo, the editor of the magazine, said the survey originally was designed to shake some manufacturers out of their boots, because many Web sites needed to be updated or overhauled.

"Like it or not, product manufacturers are going to have to hop on the bandwagon -- and fast -- or be left far behind," she said.

Building Products' survey favors sites that have detailed specs and with installation instructions that are easily downloadable. And they want photos of products to be sharp and clear, to see if you are getting what you are paying for.

Among the Web sites that Building Products considers a cut above the rest are for Benjamin Moore Paints; DuPont Tyvek (house-insulation wrap); Georgia-Pacific building products; Johns Manville; Olympic paints and stains; and Sherwin Williams paints.

Web sites such as these are easily accessible to consumers and can provide information that stores and contractors are unable -- and sometimes unwilling -- to provide.

For example, my wife and I saw a photograph of a Kohler sink at a home center that would be a perfect replacement for the ancient one in the first-floor bathroom of our new house. But no one at the store had any more information.

It's called the Kathryn, price $247, and it's on order -- right after she found it on www.kohler.com.

Published: February 20, 2002

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Al Heavens writes about real estate and home repair and improvement. He is the author of What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home: Real-Life Advice For Hassle-free, Cost-Effective Remodeling.