One thing others can't copy is the Gaines authenticity. Love to see the way they banter back and forth with each other and the way they include their children in everything they do.
Yes, it is true, once someone pays for their home they can use it anyway they choose. It's just sad that Chip and Joanna do everything they can up to and including moving fireplaces (!) and adding extras so as to completely please those purchasing the homes to then have them turn around and cut into their business. They have taken a town that was deterorating and one by one are breathing life back into it. Just makes you wonder how many of those who have turned their homes into B/B's may have had that as their ultimate plan in the beginning.
It's hard to imagine the magnitude of what they are doing but if you have ever taken a ride in the country and seen all the hundreds of little towns, once thriving,and now left with just a few houses, no grocery stores, no service stations, no shops...just tired little houses and you will have some idea of how daunting the task of bringing them back to life really is. I'd like to see it happen all over.