Chris, Mike Otto has been discussing pond building in the last half dozen or so issues. I believe you could read all of his stuff and make a list of the things that you probably wouldn't ever think of. It would make a good starting point. I think it would make sense to also get some opinions from a couple of the pond builders on this site to put yourself in the dozer guys shoes. You really need to find out what is reasonable to expect and what kind of stuff not to put up with. ZHKent(?) comes to mind.

Finally, the internet is pretty deep in info about how to build a pond. A lot of States have wildlife/pond sites. Check it out and go from there. Then post your list and get people to poke holes in it.