They rarely get big enough outside of their favored forest setting to be any concern about breakage or windfall. Disturbing their root-zone, tho, could cause health problems.

i dont understand ...

the tree is there.. and you want to build around it ...

if you dig a basement.. wont you dig away half its root mass .... how would you then consider it safe?

plus .. most tree roots are within the first foot or so of soil ... and you will have big machines driving over the other half of the root mass ... and that is never good ...

either build an appropriate distance from the tree .. lets say twice the width of the canopy ...

or expect its decline in the future.. in tree time.. counted in decades ..

ken

ps: big city location would give us a better idea of what kind of weather it will have to deal with ... are you in a hurricane zone?

Sourwood is not a tree I would put on a list that breakup easily in wind, heavy rain or snow. If it is mature now, the growth rate will have slowed and it may not get much bigger than it is now. To save it from root disturbance as much as possible during construction, put a big orange plastic mesh fence around it. A good ten feet if you have the room.

I agree that your primary concern is not the tree interfering with the structure - it won't - but the construction process and the exact location of the structure interfering with and damaging the tree. If your aim is to reserve the tree, then be especially careful on the house placement and take all necessary precautions to avoid any construction traffic or activity in the immediate vicinity. I'd consider that orange mesh fence Christopher suggests be at minimum of 10'....but even further away as is possible or convenient.