Note 12 - Warranty Accrual

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Product Warranty Disclosure [Text Block]

12. 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 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 and six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018. For the three months ended June 30, 2019, we recorded an adjustment to decrease our warranty accrual by $1.4 million due to lower than expected general warranty related expenditures in certain close of escrow years. No such adjustments were recorded during the three months ended June 30, 2018. For the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, we recorded adjustments to decrease our warranty accrual by $0.5 million and increase our warranty accrual by $3.1 million, respectively. The adjustments recorded during the six months ended June 30, 2019 are consistent with the three month period noted above and are partially offset by warranty accruals related to homes with structural related issues. The adjustments recorded during the six months ended June 30, 2018 were due to higher than expected general warranty related expenditures.

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30,						June 30,
	2019			2018			2019			2018
	(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	29,992		$	25,113		$	28,262		$	21,909
Expense provisions		3,737			3,749			7,085			6,347
Cash payments		(2,976	)		(3,196	)		(5,469	)		(5,696	)
Adjustments		(1,404	)		-			(529	)		3,106
Balance at end of period	$	29,349		$	25,666		$	29,349		$	25,666