@Bill Gulley, I took issue in the delivery, not the lesson.  

A neighbor brought over the online bank check about 2 weeks later, saying it was in his hold mail delivery.  

While the national ACH system is regulated by the Fed Reserve, soon with Cozy you'll be able to accept credit cards, and even push the payments to a debit card - which should shorten delivery to 1-2 days.  

I do think there are lot of innovations that are coming here, especially with the panel technology, battery storage, power delivery etc, where you could find ingenious ways to save costs and pass some of those cost savings to the tenant.

The one thing that I have been finding with this economy is that a lot the vendors are really sharpening their pencils to earn the business, along with including many of the "extras" that used to add to the expense, such as warranty, setup, delivery, etc.

I just scheduled payment and sent her a screen shot - she responded with the delivery date is not sufficient and is requesting I meet with her.

Hey Roy N. electronic delivery is fine.

When the appliance was delivered Saturday, the delivery men asked me if I had looked at the washer/dryer before I bought it.

Again, unless your lease specifically prohibits space heaters(I'm unfamiliar with Texas LL-Tenant Laws, you may not be able to put this in a lease), she'd be within her rights to just use a space heater if it hadn't gotten a little chilly, but not enough to warrant an oil delivery or setting up an account with the gas company.

My partner puts down the 20% downpayment upon signing and then pays his remaining 30% part progressively during the construction period and upon delivery.