In recent years, home improvement contractors have gotten a lot of negative attention.  In June 2007, the state Department of Consumer Protection Commission identified 160 contractors as being unregistered home improvement contractors.  One hundred and sixteen of those identified were from towns in Connecticut, including Stamford, Redding, Danbury, Bethel, Bridgeport, Stratford, New Haven, East Haven, Fairfield, Southbury, Naugatuck, Georgetown, Kent, Litchfield,Sherman, Norwalk, Wilton, Hawleyville, Waterbury and Brookfield.  On Friday, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that his office won a nine-month prison term for contractor Richard Koslik, 49, of Springfield, Mass. According to Blumenthal, Koslik had a long history of violating Connecticut home improvement laws, including making improvements without being registered.  These types of offenses produce a lack of confidence in the service industry, said Steve Lein, a Trumbull-based plumbing and heating contractor. It also leaves consumers leery of allowing contractors into their homes. "People are definitely more guarded when it comes to hiring a contractor," Lein said. "Within the last two to three years I've hadmore customers ask for my insurance and  licensing information, which is a good thing, but when I first started in this business seven years ago, no one gave it a second thought." To help himself and other contractors like him and to give consumers a peace of mind, Lein and his partner, Tom Watson, a Trumbull-based home improvement contractor, started an online business (www.ReferMe-CT.com) to help homeowners find licensed and insured contractors to perform work on their homes. "We launched the Refer Me site in January and we've gotten a pretty good response in that time," Lein said. The site catalogs more than 100 different contractors in more than 40 different disciplines from across the state. "Contractors fill out an application with us and then we check their licensure and insurance information with the state and then we become the certificate holders of their insurance," Lein said.  Homeowners who log onto the site can request up to three referrals. Refer Me then refers them with the requested number of contractors who will all submit a bid- all at no fee to the homeowner.  Contractors pay a fee when they are given a lead on a job, regardless whether they obtain the job or not, which makes the contractor work harder for the customer to obtain the job.  The site also offers homeowners free advice on home improvement projects sponsored by This Old House. "We offer resources to help homeowners learn about home maintenance, including planning the job, shopping for materials and purchasing products," Lein said. "Then, when they're ready, we help them find a contractor." Right now, business is good, but slow, Lein said. "It's going well in the sense that contractors are signing up and people are using the site," Lein said. "We'd like to see more people using it but due to the economy and the fact we've only been in business two months, it's a little slow, but we've gotten great compliments from both sides." Last summer, state Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, the Senate majority whip, helped a Norwalk woman obtain thousands of dollars in financial compensation after a contractor nevercompleted work on her home. Duff said that a site like Refer Me will help ensure that other homeowners aren't bilked out of their hard-earned money. "I certainly applaud contarctors for starting this site and for providing links to the Department of Consumer Protection because more information helps consumers make better decisions," Duff said. "I know there is a deep frustration by contractors who work hard and play by the rules and are continually undercut by those who aren't insured or licensed.  We want people to all play by same rules, and I think that as long as the information is put out there in an objective way, I think the site is a great idea.