Business Segments Business Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 456,866	$ 401,247	$ 863,846	$ 725,617
Operating Income	28,909	29,176	60,565	48,849
Interest	3,834	4,308	9,172	9,573
Equity in income of joint venture arrangements	(110)	(82)	(127)	(389)
Income before income taxes	25,185	24,950	51,520	39,665
Charges related to stucco-related claims	8,500	2,754	8,500	4,909
Midwest Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	168,469	152,918	314,891	271,088
Operating Income	17,984	17,987	32,843	28,315
Interest	863	613	2,240	1,892
Southern Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	178,780	148,965	328,145	271,659
Operating Income	4,709	7,199	13,421	13,629
Interest	1,791	2,136	4,168	4,330
Mid-Atlantic Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	97,749	89,415	194,635	162,868
Operating Income	9,588	7,584	16,841	11,468
Interest	515	1,049	1,431	2,457
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Financial services revenue	11,868	9,949	26,175	20,002
Operating Income	6,860	5,362	16,090	11,637
Interest	665	510	1,333	894
Corporate and Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Selling, general and administrative expenses	$ (10,232)	$ (8,956)	$ (18,630)	$ (16,200)

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
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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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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