STANDBY GENERATORS

Have the transfer switch and wiring installed before house is finished, it will be easier and nicer looking job. we have lost natural gas for as long as 4 days due to high demand in the past, so i recomend gas or diesel. I use gas because I always have lots available.

I spent my entire career working for a natural gas pipeline company. My responsibility was to keep gas flowing throughout the system. I lived in a hurricane prone area and would watch as a hurricane entered the gulf and offshore wells shut down. Our pipeline pressure would go from 900 psi to as low as 200 psi! But never once did we lose our supply.
So yes the natural gas supply is vulnerable to disruption. We would see the same situation with winter storms. Natural gas (if available) would still be my preferred choice of fuel but I would have a diesel backup.
Another thing and I've never found this, would be a timer circuit so when power goes out and you're not home due to evacuations or vacations then the timer would only let the generator run for a couple hours a few times a day. This would be much better than it running continuously and would keep the freezer and fridge cold.

As for the house to be purchased it will most likely be a 2bdr and around 1000 SF...

While in college in the early 8o's I lived in an apartment complex heated by natural gas. The east coast was hit with an extreme cold spell and we were told by the maintenance guys that the pressure dropped to 3 psi coming into the buildings due to high usage. After being flooded out of my apartment due to busted pipes and having to break the ice in the toilet every morning, I kinda got a sour taste for natural gas. I would want to have a backup fuel source.

We have a 14KW Generac. Everything is automatic. Natural Gas. Runs everything we need!

In general 7-8K will do an entire house if no A/C is required. If you need A/C 12-15K will be required.
I also agree natural gas is the way to go. No need to fill gas can etc. to keep unit supplied.
There are auto transfer switches available to detect power outage and automatically start generator to supply electricity.

We traveled for 25 years in large RV's when I was working all over. When we bought a house I took the 6.5KW Gen set from my 5th wheel before I gave to Daughter.
I mounted the 6.5 in the Rear screen porch under a metal cabinet and ran the exhaust out and up above the roof line. It was a gasoline model. Couple of years later I bought a NG/Gasoline kit from US Carb and installed it myself.
It will run on NG and Gasoline both. Depends on where my switches and valves are switched to. NG is the way to go plus Gasoline Backup.
I had an electrician install a transfer switch at the Meter. It is manual and I keep it locked. On my electric panel I have the 220 volt dryer, A/C and Water Heater, plus a few more un needed circuits marked with RED Electrical tape and Wife and I know to flip these off before cranking the 6.5KW Gen. set. Once running I go out and unlock the XFER switch and take it off the GA Power grid and on to my Gen. Set.
Never have I lost NG in the 4 yrs. here. If I do I have 12 gallons of PURE Gas ready to switch to. Change gas every 6 months and plenty of StaBil in the full tanks.
Something some men forget is the aren't going to be around all the time so I have written spread sheets showing how to operate everything and have everything labeled.
I saved over $2K by not doing an automatic XFER switch. They require a lot of extra wireing to the regular panel box and mine was 50 feet from the XFER switch. Much easier for us to flip some switches and do a manual transfer.
We can run everything else in the house with the 6.5KW to include MW and window A/C unit in Sun Room. Wife has Asthma so A/C is needed.
Your 5.5 is marginal, however it will do the trick IF you flip some switches and remember to turn off stuff when you leave a room. It will run everything in your house except the 220volt stuff-----Just NOT all at the same time.
Good Luck.
BTW Daughter and her Hubby paid $10K to get a fully automatic 15KW Generator installed with automatic switchover and it cranks and runs for 30 min every week to keep the system maintained----battery charged, etc.
I have less than $2K in mine although I consider the 6.5 KW as FREE.

Our Generac Guardian 8KW LP fueled automatic standby generator cost $2K delivered and another $150 or so for hookup hardware and a battery. When we're off traveling, we don't worry about storm outages back at the cottage.

Marvin you bring up a good point in terms of cost. A manual system can be done a lot cheaper than automatic.
However a manual system requires someone with the know how to be present to operate the system. The backup system will need to be started and stopped accordingly.
An automated system takes care of itself. Having a gasoline back up is really nice but again someone must ensure the gas is fresh. Someone will also need to refill gas cans during an extended the outage.
In many cases maintaining and operating a manual system is more of a deal breaker than money.

10kw generac auto standby. Run on natural gas.