Bosses Bring the Office
To the Beach House

To start a recent workday, Tom Reagan faxed some documents, tuned into a three-way videoconference with co-workers and led a planning meeting around his personal conference table.

But Mr. Reagan wasn't working from an office in his company's Denver headquarters or toiling from a high-priced hotel suite. He was ensconsed in the $50,000, 700-square-foot office in his second home, in Aspen, Colo. "I've got it all here," says the 48-year-old private-equity broker. "Sometimes, it's actually better than being at my real office."

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Step into the new vacation-home executive suite: It's bigger, better and professionally equipped.

In their zeal to get the most out of their newly purchased second homes, Americans are upgrading weekend work spaces with wireless Internet, broadband technology and computer terminals for their guests.

Seattle architect Stuart Silk has designed five such projects in second-home markets this year, up from two in 2004. In East Hampton, N.Y., computer-network installer John Charde says vacation homes now account for 40% of his business, up from about 10% in 2001. Retailers, too, are homing in: Office Depot just introduced "Town, Country, City, Shore," a line of office furniture tailored for second-home owners. (Its accents and surfaces "create a relaxing, beach-house atmosphere," according to the Web site.)

Of course, the second-home office suite isn't always so sweet. Finding a computer tech in an obscure ZIP code to service your system on weekends can be a challenge -- not to mention the work persuading your spouse to sign over the bedroom with the best view to filing cabinets and Deskjet printers.

Another downside? When the boss upgrades the weekend work space, it doesn't necessarily help employees' quality of life. Michael Schneider, a Manhattan events-marketing manager, was recently invited to the weekend place of his supervisor, David Drake, to work on an advertising campaign. Between the bank of telephones and the row of computers, Mr. Drake's Sag Harbor, N.Y., spread was just like working in the city, Mr. Schneider says. Worse, the 28-year-old says he spent the two-day retreat "worrying I might run into my boss in his underwear." ("We actually got a lot of serious work done," Mr. Drake says).

Time Management

And then there are those bouts with the spouse. Having set up his Great Cranberry Island, Maine, vacation-home office with two phone lines, a fax machine, conference table and high-speed Internet, real-estate developer Chris Nash says he now bickers with his wife over how much time he spends in the work space. Some weekends, Mrs. Nash even puts "a moratorium on work." As for Mr. Nash, he also likes being in the ocean-facing office "because it has better views than our bedroom."

Of course, between BlackBerries, cellphones and portable printers, Type A personalities have been doing business in their weekend homes for years. More than 10 million Americans operate home offices, either from primary or secondary residences, up 3% from 2000, according to Boston market-research firm IDC. But in the past, that work was often done on the kitchen table, in a closet converted into an office, or in some other makeshift space.

Now, with the boom in second homes -- sales were up 16%, to 2.82 million last year, according to the National Association of Realtors -- weekend homeowners are formalizing the setup. Builders in places like Nantucket, Mass., and Malibu, Calif., say not only that vacation-home projects are getting bigger, by a few thousand square feet, but that the spaces homeowners are setting aside for work are growing larger, too.

OfficeMax is targeting vacation areas like Naples, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz., with nine new stores slated to open later this year and in early 2006. The chain has also just launched "MaxInstall," a service that sends experts into homes to set up wired and wireless computer networks and computer installations. Meanwhile, David Raife, who installs home technology in Colorado ski areas, has had so much business in Aspen, he's expanded his operations to Vail and now has a long wait list.

A 'must-have element'

While many second-homeowners are upgrading or adding fancy office space because they are working more, others look at executive suites as an investment that will raise resale value. Though brokers are reluctant to quantify how much a fancy office can add to a sale price, in areas like Vail, Colo., it's a "must-have element," broker Josh Saslove says. A fairly well-stocked home-office can run between $40,000 and $150,000 (with installation fees running about $85 an hour). When taking a listing, Mr. Saslove has gone as far as pushing a client to add a home-office space before putting the house on the market.

Phoenix businessman Buddy Jobe added a work space with a large mahogany desk, wood paneling and a fireplace to his La Jolla, Calif., vacation home. The investment earlier this year attracted the attention of author Anne Rice, who ended up paying $8 million for the property, after looking at several other second homes in the area. "The office helped seal the deal," says Dan Wyatt, the broker representing Ms. Rice. "She wanted a place to work that wasn't a closet."

Sometimes, a state-of-the-art office suite at a vacation home can be good for business, says Frank O'Connell, 62. The Boston consultant recently transformed a 1,000-square-foot room inside his summer home in Woodstock, Vt., with a 20-inch plasma screen that rises out of the floor, wireless Internet access, three phone lines and two fax machines. He often invites clients to make the three-hour drive up from Boston for weekend retreats and is now building a bigger home in the area with even more "toys," including large sliding doors that will allow him to drive his motorcycle into his home office. A place like that "makes a real impression," he says.

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