Aw man, Dave! That sucks that y'all have a cold! That's SO not fun!
I don't want to add any additional stress to what you've already got going on, but if I do start carrying the wire, are there other things I should seek out to go along with it?
Some 3mm Ekowool would suit most people's needs in the string dept. And for the Genesis type users some 400x400 and / or 500x500 stainless steel mesh. Between this and the Kanthal wire you'd probably be able to cover up to 85% of the standard "rebuilder's" needs.
Not so much for the "cutting edge" or "experimenters", their stuff is usually a little more rare anyway and changes quickly. Mostly found from direct manufacturers who don't even market to vapers. Though some, once they realized the market was there, have begun pursuing the market.
Pre-made mesh coils are just as prone to hot spots as self made. So I don't really see a benefit there, ya just gotta learn to fix them. Even if they were tested before shipping, some wire movement would occur during shipping and installation.
You can get 50 pre-made
string coils for just under $10 from Fasttech if you wanna be lazy. But then again you're dealing with unknown materials. Possibly fiberglass string with NiChrome wire (cheapest stuff available).
Pre-made Ekowool with Kanthal ribbon wire coils would be about the best you could hope for in that area. But unless you've got a sweatshop full of Kitties, I doubt there'd be much of a profit margin.