Re: Multiple user types – possible?
devweb, sorry about the little thread jacking 
There is a plugin on WPMU Dev ( http://wpmudev.org/project/default-user-role ) that allows admins to set the default user role on signup. There’s also this plugin ( http://agapetry.net/news/introducing-role-scoper/ ) that seems to offer significant role customization in WP. However, I cannot find this particular plugin in the WP repositry so beware.
You may also get some useful ideas from this thread on the Mu forums: https://mu.wordpress.org/forums/topic.php?id=8217
Granted, these are all WPMU-specific ideas, not BuddyPress. But Mu is the platform on which BP sits, so this may be of some use if you’re planning to code your own solution.
