Codes · Norme

Codes gives the exact text of code articles, with their edition. You ask your assistant, which looks up and reads the article with Codes.

The texts are loaded in full, from the official documents: parts, sections, articles, sentences, clauses, tables, appendix notes and cross-references, with their exact numbers.

What Codes contains

Codes holds:

• the National Building Code of Canada 2020 (NBC 2020), Divisions A, B and C with their appendix notes, second printing with the errata of 31 March 2025, in French and English;
• the Quebec Construction Code, Chapter I – Building, with the amendment of 10 September 2026, in French and English;
• the Quebec Construction Code, Chapter III – Plumbing, third printing of 14 October 2026, in French and English;
• the Structural Commentaries (Part 4 of the NBC 2020), in French and English;
• Québec’s construction safety code, the CSTC (Code de sécurité pour les travaux de construction), up to date on 1 July 2026, in French and English;
• the Regulation respecting occupational health and safety (RSST), up to date on 1 July 2026, in French and English;
• the Act respecting occupational health and safety (LSST), up to date on 12 August 2026, in French only.

Codes does not have: Appendices C (climatic data) and D (fire-resistance ratings) of the NBC, the appendices of the CSTC and the RSST, Division I of Chapter III, Chapter V (Electricity), the English text of the LSST, other provinces’ codes, municipal by-laws and CSA standards. When a value is not in these texts, your assistant tells you so and asks you for the value and its source.

Ask for an article

• Give the article number, or a few words that describe it.
• With a number, your assistant reads the article directly.
• Without a number, it searches with several wordings of your question, in three rounds at most. It then reads the whole article before answering you.
• If it does not find it, it tells you what it found and what is missing, and asks you one question.
• A value missing from the text stays missing: your assistant does not guess it.

Cite an article

• The citation names the document, the edition, the division and the article, and the sentence or clause if needed.
• Codes checks that the article exists before citing it.
• A short form is for tables and plan legends.

Québec amendments

• In Québec, an NBC article applies as amended by Chapter I of the Construction Code. Codes gives the text in force in Québec first, then the federal NBC text.
• For a project in Québec, cite the text in force in Québec. An article deleted in Québec does not apply there.
• Part 8 of the NBC (construction sites) is deleted in Québec: for a site, Codes reads the CSTC.
• Part 10 (existing buildings) is specific to Québec: it comes from Chapter I.

Example requests

What you ask	What Codes gives
“What does section 3.9.10 of the CSTC say?”	The text of the CSTC section, with its edition.
“What is the minimum height of a guard on a deck?”	The NBC articles found, then the text of the one that answers, with the text in force in Québec.
“Does Québec amend Article 9.8.8.1 of the NBC 2020?”	The text in force in Québec, then the federal NBC text.
“Cite this article for the plan.”	The full citation and its short form.

Good to know

• Codes quotes the text; it does not judge a project. A competent person decides how the article applies to your site.
• A plan stays preliminary until a competent person has checked it: a citation does not replace that check.
• For a full example, see the tutorial Codes · Norme: find a code article and cite it.