Note 11 - Warranty Accrual

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Product Warranty Disclosure [Text Block]

11. Warranty Accrual

Our homes are sold with limited third-party warranties and, under our agreement with the issuer of the third-party warranties, we are responsible for performing all of the work for the first two years of the warranty coverage and paying for substantially all of the work required to be performed during years three through ten of the warranties. We record accruals for general and structural warranty claims, as well as accruals for known, unusual warranty-related expenditures. Our warranty accrual is recorded based upon historical payment experience in an amount estimated to be adequate to cover expected costs of materials and outside labor during warranty periods. The determination of the warranty accrual rate for closed homes and the evaluation of our warranty accrual balance at period end are based on an internally developed analysis that includes known facts and interpretations of circumstances, including, among other things, our trends in historical warranty payment levels and warranty payments for claims not considered to be normal and recurring.

Our warranty accrual is included in accrued and other liabilities in the homebuilding section of our consolidated balance sheets and adjustments to our warranty accrual are recorded as an increase or reduction to home cost of sales in the homebuilding section of our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

The table set forth below summarizes accrual, adjustment and payment activity related to our warranty accrual for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2020			2019
	(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	31,386		$	28,262
Expense provisions		3,165			3,348
Cash payments		(3,664	)		(2,493	)
Adjustments		-			875
Balance at end of period	$	30,887		$	29,992