Contract Assets and Liabilities - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Revenue recognized	$ 104,500
Contracts Revenue	(11,180)
Aggregate claim recovery estimate included in contract assets and liability	45,100	$ 26,700
Costs in excess of billings and estimated earnings and billings in excess of estimated earnings		$ 26,700
Performance Obligations [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Contracts Revenue	$ 114,900

Aggregate affirmative claim recovery estimate included in contract asset and liability balances.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	gva_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Costs in excess of billings and estimated earnings and billings in excess of estimated earnings.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in revenue recognized for cumulative catch-up adjustment from change in estimate of transaction price which increases (decreases) right to consideration in exchange for good or service transferred to customer when right is conditioned on something other than passage of time. Includes, but is not limited to, change in assessment of whether estimate of variable consideration is constrained.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 10
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130551-203045

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of revenue recognized that was previously included in balance of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration from customer has been received or is due.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130549-203045

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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