I live in central Texas and it is HOT here. Our winters are like Scottish summers. I look for light weight wool I can wear (others will criticize me for not having the proper "swoosh") but I am into comfort.
I live just a couple miles west of cck (in the Texas Hill Country), where today's weather will be 102 degrees Fahrenheit (about 39 degrees for those who only speak Celsius). A typical summer day.

But I still prefer 16-oz wool in my kilts. I tend to find (and I think many others here agree) that it's the amount of material in the kilt that makes the biggest difference in comfort when it's hot, not necessarily the weight of material. In fact, I'd bet that a lot of folks wouldn't even notice the difference between 13-oz and 16-oz material.

If I'm going to kilt up in really hot weather, I'll wear a 4-yard box-pleated kilt to reduce the amount of material wrapped around me. But if I had to choose only one kilt for all weather, I'd go with the 8-yard 16-oz wool kilt.

As for choosing a respectable kiltmaker, I actually find that the best source of information is right here on this forum. Listen to what others say about their kiltmakers. If you notice a trend, where a lot of people always rave about a certain one, then that's the most important information you could get. Folks here tend to be pickier and more attentive to minor details than the average kilt wearer. So if the rabble here tend to be happy with a kiltmaker, then that's about as good as it can possibly get.