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I have 2 observatories. One is at home and the other at my dark site. The dark site I generally only go to if the weather forecast is good so and no moon. So I have a good chance at 3 nights imaging.
Basically it comes down to a permanent setup and choice of target. If you have dark skies in all directions the ideal target is one that is about 30 degrees up from the east at dark so you can image it to the zenith to around 11:30pm, do a meridian flip and let it go the rest of the night. You program the filter changes with any program.
Sometimes you pick a target you are interested in that is not optimum like that and it may require a flip at an inopportune time or you simply waste part of the night if its already past the zenith and you are imaging it as it goes to the west and too low to image.
An object in case 1 above should allow almost 5 hours of imaging per night.
A home observatory does not have to be sophisticated. I have converted a garden shed in the past to be a roll off roof observatory.
A home observatory is almost as productive as a remote internet obs as you simply use it if the weather and moon are good and close it up the next morning before you take off.
Greg.
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