Business Segments Business Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 442,464	$ 363,457	$ 1,168,081	$ 949,472
Operating Income (Loss)	22,006	30,120	70,855	75,697
Interest	3,587	3,658	13,160	11,870
Equity in income of unconsolidated joint ventures	(24)	(36)	(413)	(248)
Income before income taxes	18,443	26,498	58,108	64,075
Charges related to stucco-related claims	14,500	0	19,409	0
Midwest Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	166,928	128,121	438,016	331,479
Operating Income (Loss)	20,628	13,511	48,943	33,526
Interest	647	649	2,539	2,536
Southern Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	143,315	137,185	414,974	341,139
Operating Income (Loss)	(5,249)	13,860	8,380	30,421
Interest	1,788	1,649	6,118	5,185
Mid-Atlantic Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	121,659	88,875	284,527	250,546
Operating Income (Loss)	11,359	6,350	22,827	19,376
Interest	601	948	3,058	3,011
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Financial services revenue	10,562	9,276	30,564	26,308
Operating Income (Loss)	5,944	4,856	17,581	15,425
Interest	551	412	1,445	1,138
Corporate and Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Selling, general and administrative expenses	$ (10,676)	$ (8,457)	$ (26,876)	$ (23,051)

The aggregate financial services revenue and operating interest income earned during the reporting period.

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Revenue related to the sale of homes and home building activities including design, development, general contracting, and renovation services for residential buildings, including single-family houses, multifamily housing, townhouses, apartments, and modular housing.

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The portion of earnings or loss from continuing operations before income taxes that is attributable to domestic operations.

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-Publisher FASB
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This item represents the entity's proportionate share for the period of the net income (loss) of its investee (such as unconsolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures) to which the equity method of accounting is applied. This item includes income or expense related to stock-based compensation based on the investor's grant of stock to employees of an equity method investee.

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Amount of the cost of borrowed funds accounted for as interest expense.

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The net result for the period of deducting operating expenses from operating revenues.

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Amount of increase (decrease) in the standard and extended product warranty liability.

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Amount of revenue recognized from goods sold, services rendered, insurance premiums, or other activities that constitute an earning process. Includes, but is not limited to, investment and interest income before deduction of interest expense when recognized as a component of revenue, and sales and trading gain (loss).

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The aggregate total costs related to selling a firm's product and services, as well as all other general and administrative expenses. Direct selling expenses (for example, credit, warranty, and advertising) are expenses that can be directly linked to the sale of specific products. Indirect selling expenses are expenses that cannot be directly linked to the sale of specific products, for example telephone expenses, Internet, and postal charges. General and administrative expenses include salaries of non-sales personnel, rent, utilities, communication, etc.

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