Business Segments Business Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 476,423	$ 442,464	$ 1,340,269	$ 1,168,081
Operating Income	39,277	22,006	99,842	70,855
Interest	4,675	3,587	13,847	13,160
Equity in income of joint venture arrangements	(71)	(24)	(198)	(413)
Income before income taxes	34,673	18,443	86,193	58,108
Charges related to stucco-related claims	0	14,500	8,500	19,409
Midwest Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	180,488	166,928	495,379	438,016
Operating Income	20,887	20,628	53,730	48,943
Interest	1,319	647	3,559	2,539
Southern Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	176,502	143,315	504,647	414,974
Operating Income	13,082	(5,249)	26,503	8,380
Interest	2,143	1,788	6,311	6,118
Mid-Atlantic Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	107,670	121,659	302,305	284,527
Operating Income	9,969	11,359	26,810	22,827
Interest	557	601	1,988	3,058
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Financial services revenue	11,763	10,562	37,938	30,564
Operating Income	5,887	5,944	21,977	17,581
Interest	656	551	1,989	1,445
Corporate and Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Selling, general and administrative expenses	$ (10,548)	$ (10,676)	$ (29,178)	$ (26,876)

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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