January is perfect for the typical foundation shrubs and dormant trees. I might wait til late Feb early Mar. for the more tender type shrubs.
An elevated property just tells you that you'll have exceptional drainage. You'll have to decide if you make plant choices based upon that or if you have the money to install drip irrigation system to help a greater variety of plant choices get established.
First thing is to be certain there's no construction junk under the soil in these areas. Often a leftover pile of masonary sand or gravel is simply covered with fill dirt and fill dirt isn't topsoil unless you contract for that.

Other thing is to tell us if your gutter downspouts are above ground on a splash block or connected into a below ground piping that leads away from your house.

Don't worry so much about plant choices for foundation. Whatever the bldr puts in will be small enough to dig out and put elsewhere. Just be sure whatever goes in the foundation beds are placed far from the foundation so at mature growth they won't be touching the house.
That means you do some research on-line to find out mature sizes both height and width.

consider also sun orientation, prevailing winds, any sources of shade.

If you're on a slope (I'm familiar with that setting) you might consider terracing (hardscaping) so hard rains don't wash away your planting soils and mulches.

What is the roofline like to this house? Any leafcatching groins? Photos could be a big help to people here who offer advice.
Was this raw,cleared land when you chose it for your homesite or raw with trees some of which you were able to save?

Come back with some photos and more description about conditions. Happy New Year !

Lady,
Where are you located?
General area.
Are you near a beach? Is the soil sandy, or orange like clay?
Soil is everything in gardening.
The next time you go to the house, take pics.
Ask the builder what the sun exposures are, the front of house, the back of house.
Look at the soil, did they strip it? Does it look like bare unfertile dirt?
Lots of times builders will sell the top soil on a new build, and leave the buyer with this crap that takes years to make fertile enough to grow anything in.
Then come back, and you will get good suggestions.
Congrats on your new home in 2015!

We live in south Alabama. Our soil is red clay. Yes, our lot was scraped. Nothing saved. Met with the builder's landscaper yesterday. He had some good ideas, but the jury is out

Lady,
I know exactly what they did too.
We bought a new build in 2008, and they did the exact same thing.
They built retention walls though, which is wonderful!
You need LOTS of composted manure mixed in with it, it will be fine.
Lots of manure, a truck load!
I'm serious.
My family is from Dothan, so I am familiar with the red clay you have.
Its really great to garden in, once you have the drainage figured out. Composted manure will be your friend, and lots of mulch.
Please tell the landscaper that, be insistant on what you want.
You have a tall house, so you can go with wonderful confirs, things with cones and needles, that will grow up next to the home and look wonderful. Mediterrain style.
Look up online to get some ideas, Mediterrian style landscaping.
Your home is absolutely beautiful, you must be so excited to move in.
If you dont like what they plant, no worries, you can switch it up as you live in the house.
Try to think more evergreen for the front of your home. That way in the winter, it will still have a nice look.
And, if you like fragrant shurbs, that are evergreen, and you have shade in the front in the heat of the afternoon, you could try some banana shrubs, (michellia figo), and gardenias, and even mabey some sweet olive trees. They are all evergreen, but the banana shrub and the gardenia need shade in the afternoon.
The sun rises in the East, and sets in the west, so remember this when you move into your new home. Take notice to see early in the morning where the sun is rising from. Then later on in the day, take notice where the sun sets from.
East exposures are wonderful for part sun plants. Like gardenia and banana shrub, because they get the morning sun but by the late afternoon the sun will move and they get afternoon shade.
Really, in the south, you can grow anything with afternoon shade, its intense sun down here.
Good luck to you.
Remember, soil is 90 percent of gardening, so compost that clay up real good, and MULCH too.
Sunlight is a big factor also, so try your best to figure out in the spring how the sun moves around your home.
The winter sun is different from the summer sun, by the way.

If you have the patience to let them grow for a few years one of the more exotic trachycarpus palms (such as Trachycarpus princeps) would likely look very good.

I really like butterfly4u's suggestions. In that similar vein Id add some of the other evergreen Magnolia species such as Magnolia laevifolia (which is a dwarf) and Magnolia 'fairy blush' (also a dwarf). One of our native needle palms (rhapidophyllum hystrix) would also be perfect. If camellias do well in your area Id get a few of these, both japonica and sasquansa hybrids as they have different bloom times and tend to bloom when nothing else does.

Overall its a great space with lots of choices!