To cope with distractions, he has a system: He buys food that can be prepared quickly, such as frozen bean burritos or pasta salad. To cut down on time spent paying bills, Loening pays electric and phone bills in six-month chunks, and opens his mail only two or three times a week. For his biggest distraction, cleaning, Loening has had to be strict about keeping his apartment neat.

1) Newsday Photo by Phillip Davies-Brooke Loening, who runs his general contracting business from an office in his Manhattan apartment, developed a system to avoid distractions. 2) Newsday Cover Photo by Don Jacobsen-Gerry Guglielmo of Hauppauge supervises employees from her home. 1) Newsday Chart by Steve Madden -Wall Builders and Breakers: Here's a list of the top 10 problems of working at home and some solutions (see end of text). 2) Chart-Short Commute: the number of people working from home is expected to grow by 15 percent in 1996 (see end of text). 3) Chart-Home Work (see end of text)