Zoysia is drought tolerant. So is bermuda. Normally St Augustine does not tolerate drought. Now let me explain what that means to the lawn owner. If you stop watering and it does not rain, both zoysia and bermuda will brown out but come back to life when it rains again. Normally (meaning when you mow it below 4-5 inches(!)), St Augustine will die off unless it gets water every month. In some climates and soils, like Las Vegas, it will not survive a few weeks without water. HOWEVER, if you want any of those grasses to look green in the summer, you will need to water them about 1 inch per week when the temps are in the 90s. So if you were expecting to install zoysia in Richardson and never have to water it, that's incorrect. I have experimented with the idea that deep rooted grasses will tolerate heat and drought much better. I have a lawn in George West, Texas (on the east edge of the desert). I moved in back in September of 2011 and immediately stopped mowing the St Augustine. In addition I went from watering 3x per week to only watering the parts of the lawn that looked wilty. There is one part of that lawn under a tree on the east side of the house which has not been watered one time since 2011. The grass is 32 inches tall. It is in full shade 100% of the time due to the tree and house to the west. It survived the 2012 drought and the 2014 drought until the semi-weekly rains returned late last fall. So to make the blanket statement that St Augustine is not drought tolerant does not capture the entirety of the subject. I have further experimented with that lawn at different heights. I'm fairly convinced that 9-12 inches is a great height to maintain St Augustine. That height will allow you to water very minimally. The hardest part about that height is that no mower will mow at 12 inches. I use a string trimmer. If you had a small area, that would be no problem at all. Bringing all this back to you, your zoysia will recover if you do nothing but water it. Sure they did a poor job installing the sod, but they didn't kill it. My first choice for Richardson would be St Augustine. Second choice would be bermuda. A distant third would be zoysia. In fact I might try a prairie grass like hybrid buffalo or mix of wheatgrasses before I went with zoysia.

Sod is a lot quicker. Zoysia seed is not that hard to grow and a lot cheaper than sod. I did have some small issues with crabgrass. But that is because I put the seed down a little early. I got my seed from http://www.supersod.com/grass-seed/zenith-zoysia-seed.html I also used http://www.soil3.com/cubic-yard-compost and the grass did come in faster where I used it. If you do seed you will want to wait till mid spring. Plugs can take a while. Zoysia is a very slow spreader.

Have you considered St Augustine? It is going to creep over the edges of sidewalks and driveways, but otherwise is a fairly docile turf. It grows fast enough to repair itself and will even keep other grassy weeds out - including bermuda and zoysia. It needs the same water and fertilizer as zoysia. Zoysia on the other hand, has a characteristic you haven't mentioned. While it is slow growing, it is invasive to garden beds. It spreads underground and pops up 10 feet away from where you last saw it.

You definitely did not water too much. A more normal schedule for new sod would be 5-10 minutes but 3x per day for 2-3 weeks or until the roots knit into the soil. Did the installer roll the sod down? I suspect not., and I say that because he rototilled first. Someone who knew about the need for rolling would also know about the issues with rototilling. Before I get ugly with you, why zoysia and not St Augustine? At this point, I assume the grass knit down anyway despite the not rolling and the slightly imperfect water. There are several reasons why the grass might look like that. One is not rolling. Rolling is necessary to ensure the bottom of the sod contacts the top of the soil. Roots won't grow through the air to reach the soil. Another reason is the grass might have been stressed on the pallet. Did the grass sit on the pallet longer than a day before he put it down? But no matter the cause, it will have repaired itself and look normal next April when it comes out of winter dormancy. Zoysia does not fix itself quickly, but some sort of magic happens over the winter. I had some get damaged by fungus in May, and it remained dead looking for the entire season until the following April. It came back very normal looking; however, by that time it had to compete with the bermuda grass that came in for 9 months while the zoysia sat it out. I have seen many zoysia installations in San Antonio do the same thing. Once damaged during the growing season, bermuda comes in and it's all over. You have the advantage of it being late in the year with cooler soils, so the bermuda may not get a foothold on yours. Those other zoysia lawns I saw converted to St Augustine after the first bout with disease. With the shade you have I never would have considered anything but St Augustine, but hang in there and give this grass a good try next season. Here's what to do until the grass stops growing. Watering: You'll have to ease into this with new sod, but it is important. Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Mulch mow at the mower's highest setting. This helps to develop deep roots as well as fight off weeds. Fertilizer: I assume you're going organic since you already used the Dillo Dirt. For readers who are not from Austin, Dillo Dirt is Austin's answer to Milorganite. DD is more of a compost product than a baked microbe product. You can use the Dillo Dirt as often as you can afford it. Apply at a rate of 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. As an alternative you can use corn meal, corn gluten meal, or alfalfa pellets from any feed store. App rate is 15 pounds per 1,000. After the grass stops growing but is still green, make one last fertilizer app. Then do not fertilize again until Washington's Birthday. If you are not going with organics, then skip the Feb fertilizer application. But in either case, fertilize again in late May (Memorial Day is good). The grass should awaken in late March. Spot spray for weeds in mid April.