Excellent advice! Most important things are covered.

If you are in the US the USDA Cooperative Extension Service has lots of research based information about home orchards (as well as commercial), try your local office for recommendations appropriate to your area.

Joe’s advise is good as it follows your wishes but if I lost a lot of the shade trees around my house a fruit orchard would not be a high priority. I love fruit trees and have an orchard of over 100 but around my house I prefer Oaks, Maples, Ash, Birch and I even have a huge hybrid Poplar that I planted for a bit of shade and it’s now close to 80 ft tall. I’m just saying you need to include think more long term and plan in landscaping.

the above posts cover this pretty well, so i am just going to chime in around the desire to plant some uncommon fruits. For your zone, you should be able to do some Figs. Chicago Hardy is rated to zone 5, but it needs protection and is essentially a fruiting herbaceous shrub, so should do just fine in zone 7. I have it in Zone 5 and love the fruit, you just need to make sure to pinch it in June to get fruit production going.

There is a Texas hardy pomegranate that is rated to zone 6 with reports that it can handle zone 5b winters. So you could give this a go.

Jujubes would be another uncommon fruit to try.

Asian persimmons can grow in zone 7 if you like those (i have had good ones overseas, but the ones we get where i live usually aren't that great).

Quince aren't too common either, but this is a fruit for cooking not fresh eating.

There are several other uncommon fruits that you could grow, but you should really focus on what you like.

Cherries are one of my favorite fruits, but they are a labor of love. A late frost can easily kill your crop and the wildlife loves them as well. I have yet to try it, but there is a variety (i did buy and plant one of these) called Stark Gold sweet cherry which is a yellow cherry that isn't supposed to blush. because of this, in theory, wildlife also sees this as unripe and doesn't bother it as much.

Then if you are looking for apples, there is a Ghost apple that you could grow. it is a completely white apple (developed by zaiger). Or you could get some red fleshed apples. These are becoming more common and popular in Europe, but the ones available here in the US are harder to come by, most are patented by one company who is the only one you can buy from (sorry can't remember who, but they have a pretty good selection of varieties).

After having two trees come through the roof on top of me, I'm a bit hesitant to replant anything that is likely to get too big.

Thanks for the advice. I've got a lot of time to decide. I don't plan on doing anything with the yard until construction on the house is over. I don't expect that to be finished until October so I'm probably looking at next spring before actually planting anything.

Fall-winter is the ideal time for planting in any location designated as USDA zone 7B. What is your general location?

About halfway between Birmingham and Atlanta.

Most of the trees you mention will have high disease and pest pressures in the humid south. You want easy fruit get natives like rabbit eye blueberry, muscadine, paw paws, mulberry, blackberry . Also good choices are figs, Asian persimmon, and sour cherries and blight resistant pears like keiffer

One of the questions you asked I have not seen an answer for yet ... so I'll give my opinion. I don't think there are any hard rules on what can be planted next to what with fruit trees ... at least I have never heard or read about it. I know in gardening there are plants that are known to be good companions and not good companions ... with fruit trees I doubt it really matters. Perhaps an arborist would have a different opinion. If I was counting on a tree to cross pollinate another tree, closer is better though.

For planting fruit trees together, there are no worries. The only tree that i am aware of that you do not want near your fruit trees is a black walnut (stone fruit is ok near a black walnut tree, but i would still try to avoid it).