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What this tells me is: #1 the HD of a construct doesn't affect its size (per the "GM may ignore the size increase if they want" option under sizing a monster). #2 This is a modification, not a creation rule, right? So you answered your own question. An 80HD Homunculus would be ridiculous (+80 BAB)... but seems to be eminently easy to craft (and 2/5th the cost of any other construct).
ps. ie. one more great example of the "broken" crafting rules. I had a thread titled "My New Friend..." about a week ago where I explored the ramifications of homunculi friends as flankers for rogues... and in the end decided if they did get feats, etc.. as intelligent constructs should (they already get skills and feats at 2HD, so it follows they would continue to do so) then a 100HD homunculus would essentially get 50 combat feats and be a real killing machine... the skills were pretty ridiculous also, as having 5000 or so skill points on 50 or so skills meant the homunculus could have +100 on everything. nuts, eh?
I had a thread titled "My New Friend..." about a week ago where I explored the ramifications of homunculi friends as flankers for rogues... and in the end decided if they did get feats, etc.. as intelligent constructs should (they already get skills and feats at 2HD, so it follows they would continue to do so) then a 100HD homunculus would essentially get 50 combat feats and be a real killing machine... the skills were pretty ridiculous also, as having 5000 or so skill points on 50 or so skills meant the homunculus could have +100 on everything. nuts, eh?
Link please.
/cevah
EDIT: Nevermind. Found it.
Luckily this relies on the "the GM MAY ignore" so in any sane game, none of this will happen. normally its just +50% hd
Just perusing some more material. LODO from "The Dragon's Demand" is a 4HD Homunculus. So 3HD is definitely not the limit. (also has 2 feats and skills, so they get those too it seems)
Just Necroing to note that Lodo is noted as a "unique homunculus" with 4 HD that is small size. A normal Homunculus has 2 HD and is tiny.
They are abiding by the rules under "Adding Racial Hit Dice" in Bestiary 1, which states,
As a general rule, creatures whose Hit Dice increase by 50% or more should also increase in size, but GMs should feel free to ignore this rule if warranted by the individual creature or situation.
Which is repeated in Ultimate Magic under Construct Modifications,
Because a construct’s size is limited, a Hit Dice modification cannot increase its size. Therefore Hit Dice modification can never increase the base construct’s Hit Dice beyond 50% of its total HD.
The Tiny Construct is allowed to reach 3 HD, but to reach 4 HD the Construct must become Small, which we see is what happened with LODO. Following this pattern, the Homunculi would max out at
6 HD for Medium,9 HD for Large,
13 HD for Huge,
19 HD for Gargantuan,
and 28 HD for Colossal Homunculi, barring GM intervention.
If the 50% rule refers to original HD, then the caps are smaller:
3 HD for Tiny, 4 HD for Small, 5 HD for Medium, 6 HD for Large, 7 HD for Huge, 8 HD for Gargantuan, and 9 HD for Colossal Homunculi.
Of course, there is no listed way to increase a Homunculus's Hit Dice, (unlike Golems, which cost 50,000 gp to increase size,) so there is no way to create Lodo without being a GM. Luckily, the writers of the Module aren't players.