Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Chief Executive Officer	Dec. 31, 2011 Chief Executive Officer	Dec. 31, 2013 Gerald Hagel, vice president and Susan Hagel, spouse Simpson Strong-Tie	Dec. 31, 2011 Keymark Enterprises, LLC	Jan. 31, 2013 Entities related to Keymark	Jul. 31, 2012 Entities related to Keymark	Jan. 31, 2010 Entities related to Keymark item	Dec. 31, 2009 Entities related to Keymark item
Related Party Transaction
Cost of use of airplanes		$ 500,000	$ 500,000	$ 20,000	$ 30,000
Lease agreement, extended period						5 years
Annual lease payment to lease the property from Mr. Hagel and his wife Susan Hagel, a former employee of Simpson Strong-Tie	6,900,000	6,900,000	7,300,000			300,000
Loans made to related parties										1,700,000	700,000
Number of related entities										2	2
Interest rate of loans (as a percent)										5.50%	5.50%
Loan repayments by related parties	700,000	1,698,000	552,000					700,000	1,700,000
Fees for software development							2,500,000
Software assets acquired							11,500,000
Software assets acquired, net cash payments							$ 6,200,000
Ownership interest given up in exchange for software assets acquired (as a percent)							46.10%