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Note 4 - Cash and Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Notes to Financial Statements  
Cash and Cash Equivalents Disclosure [Text Block]
4. Cash and Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original or remaining maturities of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents include cash balances held by our wholly-owned subsidiaries and less than wholly-owned subsidiaries as well as the Company’s VIE. Refer to Note 3 for more information regarding the Company’s consolidated VIE.
Restricted cash of approximately $3.0 million is included in “other assets, net” on the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2015, and represents cash deposited by the Company into a separate account and designated as collateral for a standby letter of credit in the same amount in accordance with contractual agreements.  Refer to Notes 9 and 11 for more information about our standby letter of credit. In addition, restricted cash of approximately $2.0 million is included in “Other current assets” on the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2015, and represents cash deposited by a customer, for the benefit of the Company, in an escrow account which is restricted until the customer releases the restriction upon the completion of the job.
 
The Company holds cash on deposit in U.S. banks, at times, in excess of federally insured limits. Management does not believe that the risk associated with keeping cash deposits in excess of federal deposit insurance limits represents a material risk.
At December 31, 2015 and 2014, the Company had no short-term investments.
At December 31, 2015 and 2014, there were no cash and cash equivalents belonging to majority-owned joint ventures that are consolidated in these financial statements.
Gains and losses realized on short-term investment securities are included in “Gains on sale of securities” in the accompanying statements of operations. Unrealized gains (losses) on short-term investments are included in accumulated other comprehensive income in stockholders’ equity, net of tax, as the gains and losses may be temporary. For the year ended December 31, 2013, total proceeds from sales of short-term investments were $49.9 million, with gross realized gains of $0.7 million, and gross realized losses of $0.6 million. Accumulated other comprehensive income at December 31, 2013 included no unrealized gains on short-term investments. Upon the sale of short-term investments, the cost basis used to determine the gain or loss based on the specific identification of the security sold. All items included in accumulated other comprehensive income are at the corporate level, and no portion is attributable to noncontrolling interests.
The Company earned no interest income for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015, respectively, and earned interest income of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 on its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. These amounts are recorded in “interest income” in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.