For many Americans, the home office has become a necessity.

However, many apparently can't afford the kinds of workspace they want or need.

Cost seems to be an overwhelming issue especially when you consider that many people are working at home just to pay the mortgage.

The overall number of persons doing job-related work at home did not grow dramatically in the 1990s, but the number of wage and salary workers doing paid work at home did, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

In May 2001, 19.8 million people usually did some work at home as part of their primary job, a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. These workers, who reported working at home at least once per week, accounted for 15 percent of total employment.

The reason for the increase is telecommuting.

Four-fifths of those who regularly worked at home were employed in managerial, professional, and sales jobs. Eight in 10 used a computer for the work they did at home, and about 6 in 10 made use of Internet or e-mail access, the bureau’s survey showed.

Two-thirds of those who usually work at home reported that they did so because they need to “finish or catch up on work" or because it is the “nature of the job." About 30 percent of all U.S. homes have at least one personal computer. A lot of people who work at home are people with a side business who earn extra money to make ends meet.

At least 17 million people operate sideline businesses from their homes, based on federal income tax return data, and 12 million people derive their major income from home-based businesses.

In a survey of major builders, the National Association of Home Builders found that home offices were becoming more integrated into daily family life. Most were on a top floor or maybe just a corner of the bedroom, but in a growing number of upscale houses, offices are being built off the first-floor hall, midway between the front door and the kitchen-dining room-family room area, according to the survey.

Many work-at-home people carve home offices out of the space available to them. Therefore, most offices are sparse and a tight squeeze, often doubling as a guest bedroom, with little storage available.

Since the formal living room tends to the most expendable area of many new houses, some homeowners will convert the room to office space. Money appears to be the major stumbling block to the lower- or middle-range buyer getting the right kind of home office. For example, adding a 100-square-foot room to an existing house could cost as much as $8,000, or $80 a square foot, in some areas of the country.

And that doesn’t include work such as extending the basement and the roof.

Even factory-built, add-on home offices can be more costly than the average homeowner can afford. One company is marketing a fully assembled alcove that can be attached to your house in a matter of hours. The 10-by-10 alcove is ergonomically designed, with plenty of glass, light, work surfaces and storage spaces. The price: $11,500.

Many corporations are encouraging their employees to work at home, so the trend is not bound to recede soon.

The increase in home-office workers is the result of corporate downsizing, the high cost of commercial real estate, the decentralization of work, increased emphasis on family values after Sept. 11, and environmentalism.

But the home-office trend is not new. Spawned in part by technology, much of American society has been moving away from its urban office moorings for more than four decades. The 30-minute journey from home to office by a single commuter in his or her fossil-fueled vehicle may become more of a rarity as the Clean Air Act begins to mandate mass transit and carpooling, as roads continue to become even more clogged, and as the rate of construction of new office space in major center cities continues to decline.

One suburban Philadelphia homebuilder, Granor Price Homes, has been offering the home-office option for several years.

"We recognized a long time ago that we were selling houses to young single professionals who tend to bring their work home,'' said Marshal Granor, a principal in the company. "A lot of them are using their houses as UPS drop-off sites and have been buying two-bedroom houses with the intention of turning one of those rooms into a home office."

In some higher-end houses, buyers are demanding not only one home office but two – for two spouses that find it necessary to work at home so they can pay for the house.

Published: May 30, 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.