Thanks to all of you for your suggestions.
FruitFreak, Kiet - the builder has said that the landscaper would be willing to work with me to lay out the irrigation but the sod has to go in. Apparently, they cannot get a Certificate of Occupancy without it. Mulching the lot instead of putting in sod, is a no go. So, I will work on my tree layout when we get closer to the landscaping stage and at least have the irrigation part done to my satisfaction. I guess, I am just going to have to deal with digging the sod up.
Bsbullie - the property is not/will not be part of an HOA.
Mark in Texas - the lot belongs to the builder. He is selling it to us on the condition that he gets to build the house. The landscaping (sod, irrigation, etc.) are all included in the price of the house. The variety of grass/sod they will be using is part of the contract and so I have to go with that. Considering, I will be digging quite a bit of it up, I decided it was not worth the hassle to fight over what kind of grass to use.
Boxturtle - the lot is .9 acres. There are some big trees on the property that I would like to keep. I am assuming once the house and pool go in, I will have about half an acre left to plant fruit trees, vegetables, flowers. So, I will have to narrow down my wish list. I would need a lot more land to plant everything I would like to have!
Cookie Monster - No HOA! One of the things I really liked about this lot, along with the fact that it also had everything else on my checklist. I will check out the Sennigers. I have a lot of reading to do about irrigation systems. I am not very familiar with the set-ups. All of my gardening is done in pots that I hand water or use a Rainbird drip irrigation system for when I travel.