Working from home: keeping the day job on the doorstep Her belief is based on the Live-Work Business Briefing 2012, which shows that the number of people running businesses from home increased in 2011 by 80,000 to 2.43 million - which constitutes one in 12 people in employment. Clients who come to her say they want more personal space at home, discreet desks and space-saving solutions. Mark Parkinson, buyer's agent with property finders Middleton Advisors, says that lack of work space can be "a killer drawback" for a property sale. But does it add value? Between £2,000 and £50,000, says Pooley. According to a poll conducted for Asda, the value of home-based businesses has mushroomed. It showed a 25 per cent increase in turnover in the "back garden economy" in the past two years, making it worth more than £8 billion. Eighty per cent of those questioned said they expected to continue working from home indefinitely, so the trend will continue. No wonder Asda can report that shed sales are up 386 per cent. Victoria Hay set up a gift company called Heaven Sent a decade ago in the Old Rectory at Woolfardisworthy in North Devon. Posh pink pinnies, kimonos and scented soaps are stored in her panelled dining room and sold online or at charity fairs around the country. She packs and posts them all herself. As the children grew older, she turned the playroom into her office with handmade filing cupboards, a bespoke computer alcove, and personal desk. "It is opposite the boot room, boiler room and downstairs loo, with the kitchen beyond, so it is perfect," she says. Showing the house to prospective buyers is a problem. I have to tell them to trust me that there is a beautiful dining room under the boxes. But they are very interested in the office and see it as a great asset. She and her husband, Simon, an insurance specialist, need a smaller house, so the seven-bedroom rectory with spectacular garden, pond and tennis court is for sale at £1.5 million through Strutt & Parker (01392 215631). "I'm going to need a barn to keep all my stuff in, somewhere dry and mouse-proof," Victoria says. Separate home offices are important for Jon Grover and Nicola Wilde , who have adapted the Cotswold-stone Third House at Little Minster in Oxfordshire. It has a guest-floor-cum-office upstairs for her, and a pavilion with a sundeck in the garden for him. They are both in food marketing, and Jon runs Wilde Design from what he calls his "glamorous shed," working up designs for clients like The Pig Farmer and British Sausage Week. He needs to be physically separated from the house. She needs utter silence. They are moving to be closer to family but intend to carry on working from home. The four-bedroom house is on the market with Carter Jonas (01865 511444) at £685,000. "It is the best thing I have ever done, getting a ready-built office put into the garden," says Jon. One wall of my office is solid glass, so that I look over a valley. On sunny days I sit on the deck. Three properties for sale with home offices 1 Two-bedroom flat with garden office on Clapham Common West Side, south London, £599,950, Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward (020 3280 3502). 2 Wayside Cottage, Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, with four bedrooms, stables, and office, £875,000, Taylors (01234 325081). 3 Pond Farm House, Southwater, West Sussex, six-bedroom house with annex and studio, £950,000, King & Chasemore (01403 264444).