The Bradenton startup expects to funnel $1 billion worth of business through its Web site, www.handysource.com.

HandySource executive John "Lee" Lie-Nielsen says his 30 years in real-estate management will help net huge gains.

HandySource proposes to match apartment managers with national suppliers and services, then track managers and services, and then track managers purchases. In some cases, HandySource would replace entire purchasing departments with a laptop system.

We're basically giving them a tool to control their spending, and apartment managers like that, said lie-Nielsen, who previously headed one of the nations largest property managers, Johnstown American Companies.

They like to keep spending to a minimum. Browsers can choose from doorknobs to water heaters, and scan such services as landscaping and pest control.

HandySource would interface with a dozen national suppliers and hundreds of local services. The company would help managers bid out their biggest buys.

Based at the Cortez Village Square shopping center, HandySource shares space with its 5-year-old system company, HandyTrac, which makes key-control systems for apartment complexes.

Purchasing will be done by the apartments and we will teach them how to use the system, Marketing Director, Bob Milhoan said of HandySource's proposal.

Lie-Nielsen, a Perico Island resident, said his company would earn .5-percent to 5-percent fees on purchases, plus buyer and suppliers membership fees.

He expects $50 million worth of sales to pass through HandySource, which has few competitors, by its first year, and $200 million by its second. In three years, her said, the company would funnel $1 billion in sales.

Lie-Nielsen wouldn't reveal potential earnings but said apartment complexes spend $6 billion yearly on supplies and services.

"We expect to be profitable by the third year," he said.