Canada / Newfoundland and Labrador
The Damage Was Severe. The Insured Number Was Small.
That Gap Is the Whole Story.
We are a United States estimating desk writing Xactimate supplements for Newfoundland and Labrador roofing contractors. Hurricane Fiona washed homes into the ocean here while producing the smallest insured-damage figure of any Atlantic province IBC reported on, because homes in high-risk flood areas are largely uninsurable in the first place. We say that plainly instead of hiding it. Pricing is in United States dollars, stated plainly too.
All pricing in USD.
The code question, answered honestly instead of confidently
We looked for a clean, single answer to which building code governs construction across Newfoundland and Labrador, the way Alberta or Saskatchewan have one. We did not find it, and we are not going to manufacture one. The only place we could confirm the National Building Code of Canada is directly adopted by name is inside the Buildings Accessibility Regulations, made under the Buildings Accessibility Act, which adopt the National Building Code and the Canadian Standards Association barrier-free design standard, CSA B651, specifically for accessibility compliance, with the National Building Code prevailing where the two conflict. That is a real adoption, and it is a narrow one. It is not a general adoption of the National Building Code for residential construction.
The province also has a general building statute, the Building Standards Act, which gives the Lieutenant-Governor in Council the power to adopt the National Building Code by order for the areas the Act covers. But that Act, by its own terms, does not apply to the City of St. John's, to areas the St. John's Municipal Council administers, or to any town or local service district incorporated under the Towns and Local Service Districts Act. That carve-out covers most of where people in the province actually live. We could not locate or read a specific order exercising that National Building Code power, so we make no claim about whether or how it has been used.
What that adds up to, honestly: general building regulation in Newfoundland and Labrador runs substantially through municipal and local authority, not through one province-wide code statement we can point to and cite. Which instrument actually governs a given roof is a question about that specific town or area. We are not going to write "Newfoundland and Labrador has adopted the National Building Code" as a blanket claim, because at the general-construction level, we could not confirm that it has.
Fiona: severe destruction, small insured number, and why that gap matters
The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that southwestern Newfoundland was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Fiona in September 2022, with severe damage reported from Burgeo to Port aux Basques. At least 20 homes were washed into the ocean, primarily in Port aux Basques, leading to evacuation orders on the morning of Saturday, September 24, and the displacement of nearly 200 people. Homes were also destroyed in Burgeo, Burnt Islands, and Fox Roost. IBC later restated the national total for Fiona to over $800 million, confirming the storm remains the most costly extreme weather event ever recorded in Atlantic Canada and is now the seventh largest insured-damage event in Canada's history, up from the tenth largest as first reported.
Here is the part that is genuinely useful and genuinely local. When IBC first broke Fiona's damage out by province in October 2022, alongside its initial $660 million national estimate, Newfoundland and Labrador's insured-damage figure was the smallest of the jurisdictions it reported, even though the physical destruction, entire homes gone into the sea, was among the most severe the storm produced anywhere. IBC never republished that provincial split against its later, higher national total, so we are not putting a current dollar figure on Newfoundland and Labrador specifically. But IBC does explain the gap directly in its own words: many affected residents were located in high-risk flood areas and flood plains where residential flood insurance coverage is generally not available, and damage in those areas is not included in the insured-damage total at all.
That is not a technicality. It means the insured-loss figure and the actual destruction on the ground are two different measurements, and in a place where high-risk coastal property is common, the gap between them can be large. A contractor working this coastline should go in understanding that the insurance number in a headline is not a ceiling on what actually happened to a structure, and a claim that looks small on paper can still sit behind real, severe, physically documented loss.
What we do not claim
- We do not claim Newfoundland and Labrador has adopted the National Building Code for general construction. The only direct adoption we could confirm at a primary source is scoped to accessibility compliance under the Buildings Accessibility Act. The province's general building statute, the Building Standards Act, does not apply to the City of St. John's, to areas the St. John's Municipal Council administers, or to any town or local service district, and we could not find or read an order exercising its National Building Code adoption power. We are not going to round that up to a province-wide claim.
- We do not give a current, provincial-only dollar figure for Hurricane Fiona in Newfoundland and Labrador. The only per-province breakdown IBC ever published belongs to its superseded $660 million national estimate. IBC has since raised that total to over $800 million without republishing the split, and we are not going to guess how the increase divides.
- We are not licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Adjusting is provincially regulated here and our credential is a United States one. We do estimating and supplement documentation, working behind you.
- We do not claim to have Newfoundland and Labrador insurers mapped. They are different companies from the American ones, and inferring their behaviour from a US insurer would be making something up.
- We make no permit claim on this page. We did not locate and open a government primary on re-roofing permits here. If permits matter on your file, the municipality is the answer, not us.
- We are a US company working remotely. Nothing about the service depends on being in the same country as the roof, and we would rather you know that before you send a file than after.
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Questions
Which building code applies to a roof in Newfoundland and Labrador?
There is no single honest answer to that as a province-wide statement, and we are not going to invent one. The only place we could confirm a direct adoption of the National Building Code of Canada is inside the Buildings Accessibility Regulations, made under the Buildings Accessibility Act, and that adoption is scoped to accessibility compliance, things like barrier-free paths of travel, accessible parking counts, and ramp specifications, not general residential construction. The province's general building statute, the Building Standards Act, gives the Lieutenant-Governor in Council the power to adopt the National Building Code by order, but that Act does not apply to the City of St. John's, to areas the St. John's Municipal Council administers, or to any town or local service district, which covers most of where people in the province actually live. We did not find a general, province-wide code adoption that we could read at a primary source and stand behind. What we can tell you is that general building regulation here runs substantially through municipal and local authority, and which instrument actually governs a given roof is a question about that specific town or area, not a blanket provincial rule.
So you can't cite a code section on a Newfoundland and Labrador file?
We can cite what we can source, and we tell you plainly when we cannot. If a file sits in a municipality with its own adopted code or by-law, that is the instrument to establish first. If accessibility provisions are genuinely in play on a project, the Buildings Accessibility Regulations adopt the National Building Code and CSA B651 for that purpose specifically, with the National Building Code prevailing if the two conflict. Outside of that, we are not going to dress up a guess as a citation. We would rather tell you we could not confirm which code governs than hand you a confident-sounding line that does not hold up.
How bad was Hurricane Fiona in Newfoundland and Labrador?
Physically, among the worst damage the storm caused anywhere it hit. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that southwestern Newfoundland was particularly hard hit, with severe damage from Burgeo to Port aux Basques, and that at least 20 homes were washed into the ocean by the storm, primarily in Port aux Basques, leading to evacuation orders on the morning of Saturday, September 24, 2022, and the displacement of nearly 200 people. Homes were also destroyed in Burgeo, Burnt Islands, and Fox Roost. IBC's restated release from January 2023 confirms Fiona remains the most costly extreme weather event ever recorded in Atlantic Canada, and is now the seventh largest insured-damage event in Canada's history, up from the tenth largest as first reported.
What did Fiona cost in Newfoundland and Labrador, in dollars?
We are not going to give you a current provincial figure, because one does not exist to give. IBC's only per-province breakdown was published in October 2022 alongside an initial national total of $660 million, and it listed Newfoundland and Labrador at just over $7 million, the smallest of the five jurisdictions in that breakdown. IBC later restated the national total upward to over $800 million in January 2023, an increase of roughly 21 percent, but never republished a new per-province split against that higher number. We are not going to guess how that increase divides, so we are telling you the honest shape instead: the national and Atlantic-wide total that IBC currently stands behind is over $800 million, and the only Newfoundland-specific figure that was ever published belongs to a total IBC has since raised without saying how the increase distributes.
Why was the insured damage figure so low if the destruction was so severe?
This is the part of the story that actually matters for how a claim gets built here, and IBC says it directly rather than leaving it implied. In the January 2023 release, IBC explains that many affected residents were located in high-risk flood areas and flood plains where residential flood insurance coverage is generally not available, and that damage occurring in those areas is not included in the insured-damage total at all. Homes washed into the ocean in Port aux Basques sit exactly in that category: real, severe, physically documented destruction that a national insured-loss total structurally cannot capture, because the coverage to capture it was largely never available to buy. A contractor working this coastline should understand that gap going in. The insured-loss number on a wire release and the actual damage on the ground are not the same measurement, and the smaller the insured number looks, the more that gap is doing the work.
Do you know how Newfoundland and Labrador insurers handle supplements?
The insurers writing property coverage here are different companies from the American ones, and we are not going to claim to have their settled behaviour mapped. What transfers is the mechanics of the scope itself. A measurement report is either matched line for line by the estimate or it is not, and that is true regardless of which country wrote either document. What we learn about a specific insurer, we learn on your file and tell you honestly.
Are you licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador?
No. We are not licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are a United States company and our credential is a United States one. Adjusting is provincially regulated in Canada. What we do for you is estimating and supplement documentation, delivered remotely, working behind you while you keep the relationship with your insurer and your customer.
What currency are your fees in?
All pricing is in United States dollars. We do not quote in Canadian dollars and we do not publish a converted figure, because an exchange rate printed on a web page goes stale almost immediately. Your own bank or card issuer applies the conversion at the rate on the day you pay.
Send us one and see
Send the insurer estimate and your measurement report. We will read it and tell you what we see, including telling you if there is nothing worth chasing on it.
All pricing in USD.