Also on top of it current owner had a proguard and coverage from their current oil supplier.

Natural gas: Research/verify the availability of natural gas and supplier’s name and phone number.34.

So don't stick to one supplier. 

References are what they are, they won't give you bad ones so take them with a grain of salt, ask for supplier references to see how well they pay their bills.

This may sound funny but, I look at his marital status, financial status, his health, his momentum in business and I call his supplier to see if he pays his bills on time. 

I used to work for a major supplier of assembly parts for one of the Big Three Japanese car manufacturers.

One of the primary benefits of a franchise is the dissemination of business processes, materials and suppliers.  

Car Expenses if driving from your principal place of business (eg: Home Office) or if driving from a rental propertyto your rental propertiesto places where you meet with tenants, suppliers, vendors, repair people, ­attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers, real estate managers, and other people who help in your rental activityto the bank where you do banking for your real estate activityto a store where you buy supplies or materials for your real estate activity.

Can anyone recommend some local mid-size companies (300-500 homes under management) that are well organized, honest, and have strong supplier pricing?"

We locate land, act as brokers, design the project, handle all permitting, get bids and hire all subs, choose all suppliers, oversee the actual construction, and if there's portions of the job where our doing the work will make us more than using our time on something else, we do it.