In Ireland we have the luxury of having a small, accessible capital city, where we can enjoy the finer things in life, like having permissible face-time with voiceover performers. Lots of work abroad is done over Isdn and often, using a home studio, which in my view, is a distant second to being able to sit and discuss and direct a script with the voice over artist.
However, there's lots of work that doesn't necessarily need this face-time. Stuff like: voiceovers for powerpoint presentations, vending machines, phone answering services - etc etc. Now, these might not be the most salubrious of jobs out there, and absolutely don't earn as much money as commercials - but there is more "churn", i.e. Basically, more of these gigs around. Some medium-sized firm is never going to hire a sound studio at 400 euros an hour, and pay a voiceover 500 euro to do their answering engine message. However, that doesn't mean they want a cheap sounding, non-professional answering service. This is where the lone voiceover with his humble sound studio comes in. He bangs it out from the comfort of his own home sitting in his Pjs, and emails the mp3 straight over. Happy days.
Currently, there is only a very small handful of Irish voiceovers with their own studios. However, there are tons of voiceovers that make a full time living from this stuff all over the world. They change a small space in their house or organery into a voiceover booth - this could absolutely be tiny. As long as it's sound proof, and they have a good mic and the right software on their computer. And by the way - in Ireland, you don't need planning permission to build anyone smaller than 25m2 in your back yard.
I did a bit of snooping around, and it looks like a decent, ready-built studio with all the fittings will set you back about 6k sterling. So in terms of setting up a business, it's not a fortune, but is a large outlay of cashola. The trick would be to make sure you originate sufficient work to make it worthwhile.
Should Voiceovers Have Home Studios?