Now I need to scale quickly but dont have the years to rebuild if things go wrong.

You can find out permit information to get an idea if larger scale work has been done and permits pulled for those.

My STRs don't get any published reviews, it's just word of mouth advertising between different contractors that work on large steel erections at a petrochemical refinery and nitrogen fertilizer facility. 

I want a MHP because I don't want to deal with tenants; if I wanted to rent to large numbers of people I'd buy an apartment building.

well  before you work with Jack you should treat him like a tenant..pull a credit report and run him through a criminal and general background check.if he balks you have your answer.it always amazes me that folks will jump into these large partnerships with a ton of risk and not even do the basic background on the partner.but rent some 12 dollar an hour person your rental and you would never do it without doing the above.now most folks will jump on here and say brilliant things like RUN  LOLbut lets be pragmatic here and just check the guy out first.. then when you have that info.. go from there.Also be careful on how you deal with the bank you don't want to put in a fraudulent application..

Hello all investors large and small, I am here on this awesome site to start my RE journey by listening to the great podcasrs and reading through the forums daily.

I have tried reaching out to utility management companies but have not had success as it seems most of them are either area specific or only except large portfolios.Does anyone have a good solution to the time consuming task of managing their utilities when they purchase, sell or rent their properties out?

Some markets can have a large numbers of new build, A type communities that would create over supply in that space. that situation could affect the rental pricing between A and B type. while C type will keep servicing the Blue Collar demographic. 

So that's just coming from people talking to me that I've partnered with (not on large MF though).

And be ready to scale in oos In a reasonable timeframe Having one or two properties is not practical.