I’m an operator here in the greater Houston area.

As Charlie Monger once said: our operating assumption is that the USD is going towards zero. 

I had one short term rental that was granted a permit earlier this year and I have been operating it for months now as an STR.

We actually CAN'T explain what we are seeing if we are operating on the "purely rational actor" hypothesis (as you implicitly observe), we MUST include highly irrational and emotional individuals to explain what we are seeing.- Investor uncertainty.

What would one of you suggest for a medium term operator whose tenants may be over using a specific utility like gas or electric.

of those I like next door best because it is hard to fake and the reviews are easily tied to a reviewer in your community.The costs of ADUs vary significantly for various reasons including by ground up vs conversion, difficulty with lot (sloes, access, etc), finishes, and even the size (bigger typically have lower PSF).Good luck

Hopefully, you find it helpful and qualifies us to assist you with your goals:)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Some may have very small thresholds for repair holdbacks on purchases but this is typically limited to make ready items not to exceed $2,500 in costs to cure.

The typical rent collection sites are not what I'm looking for. 

Ive been using the same for many years now and its my foundation for operations, follow-up, workflow management and communications.