Hi WX Man,
The route I took to gain an FAA CPL/IR SE ME was:
FAA PPL - based on my CAA PPL.
FAA IR - Single Engine Only.
FAA CPL - Single Engine Checkride.
Then I went back to Florida a year later to add:
FAA ME which included an IR portion to allow my FAA IR to be used on ME aircraft. The FAA ME chekcride was to CPL standards as I had an FAA CPL SE already.
Incidentially if you have an FAA PPL/IR SE ME then if you upgrade your FAA PPL to an FAA CPL then you will need to do two checkrides. One for the SE and one of the ME. Ie, if you upgrade one then the other doesn't automatically get upgraded like it does in JAA land. I could be wrong though, but this is how I understand the FARs...
Best wishes,
Charlie Zulu.