Lenexa ? ServiceMagic.com, an Internet-based firm that links consumers with prescreened home improvement contractors and similar trade people nationwide, is opening a 300-employee operations center in Lenexa.

The eight-year-old firm, based in Golden, Colo., has grown to include 51,000 contractors and firms on its computer network and has made more than 6 million matches with consumers. It currently has 427 home service professionals on its Web list in the Kansas City area.

The firm has leased space in a Lenexa building and expects to hire sales and customer management representatives there.