Hilliardfurthest inland, lowest wind load
Hilliard runs its own building department, and it sits on the 120 mph contour, the lowest design wind speed anywhere we work. Two facts that quietly change what your roof needs and who permits it.
Its own buildingdepartment
Most of Nassau County is unincorporated, so Nassau County pulls the permit. Hilliard is one of the three places where that is not the case. It is an incorporated Town with its own Building and Zoning department on West County Road 108, and its building official is authorised to enforce and interpret the Florida Building Code inside the town limits.
The paperwork also differs from its nearest neighbour, which surprises people. Callahan publishes a standalone re-roof application; Hilliard does not. A re-roof here runs through the Town’s general Building Permit Application together with a Roofing Contractor Inspection Affidavit, against a fee schedule the Town sets by its own resolution. Same code, same outcome, different forms.
We pull the right set either way, and we will never perform unpermitted work on your property. Call or text (904) 707-6546 and we will tell you what your scope needs before you commit to anything.
The lowest wind loadwe work under
Nassau County’s Florida Building Code map for the 2023 code runs the 120 mph contour through the western part of the county, and Hilliard sits essentially on it. That is the lowest ultimate design wind speed of any place in the four counties we serve. The coast runs toward 130.
It is a genuine advantage and it is worth understanding rather than just enjoying. The wind-borne debris provisions that drive impact-rated glazing apply within a mile of the mean high-water line where the design wind speed reaches 130 mph, so they do not reach you at all. Neither does salt.
None of which means a Hilliard roof is easy. It means the thing that will take it out is a tree, not the wind, and that is a different problem with a different answer.
What actuallyshapes a roof out here
The coastal sales pitch is irrelevant here, so here is what the census figures and the conditions actually point at instead.
The oldest houses in the county
Median year built 1983: older than Fernandina Beach at 1986, and two decades older than Callahan at 2003 or Yulee at 2004. Most Hilliard roofs are a second or third covering rather than a first, which is a different inspection and a different conversation.
The heaviest canopy we work under
The state measured Hilliard at 55 percent tree cover in 2023, the highest reading of any community in our service area. There is no salt this far inland, so what loads the roof is organic debris, needles and leaves packing valleys and gutters and holding moisture against the shingles.
Acreage means outbuildings
Pole barns, workshops, detached garages, sheds and long fence lines come with rural lots. All of that sits under our Certified Building Contractor licence, so it is one contractor rather than a roofer plus three subcontractors.
For a roof under heavy canopy, a maintenance plan and gutter guards do more than anything else we sell. When a limb does come through, repairs usually get you there without a full replacement, and if the damage turns out to be structural, our building licence means it is still the same crew.
The oldest stockin Nassau County
The rural end of Nassau County is also its oldest. The Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 American Community Survey puts the median Hilliard home at 1983: against 2003 in Callahan, 2004 in Yulee, 1986 in Fernandina Beach and 2000 for Nassau County as a whole. ZIP 32046 covers about 4,007 housing units at a 1991 median.
That is the single most useful number on this page. A 1983 median means most roofs here are a second or third covering rather than a first, laid over decking and flashing details installed to a much earlier edition of the code. What is under the shingles is genuinely less predictable than it is on a 2004 house in Yulee, and a quote written without looking is a guess.
So we photograph what we find and price the decking, the flashing and the penetrations honestly rather than discovering them halfway through. And where a rural lot brings the rest of it with it (pole barn, workshop, detached garage, a long run of fence), our two state licences, Certified Roofing Contractor (CCC1335155) and Certified Building Contractor (CBC1270530), cover that on the same contract.
Elsewhere inNassau County
Hilliardquestions we get asked
The Town of Hilliard does, through its own Building and Zoning department at 15859 West County Road 108, not Nassau County. Hilliard is one of only three incorporated municipalities in the county, alongside Fernandina Beach and Callahan, and it does not delegate building permitting. The Town's building official is authorised to enforce and interpret the Florida Building Code within the town limits, and the Town maintains its own permit fee schedule.
No, and the difference is worth knowing before anyone quotes you. Callahan publishes a dedicated standalone Re-Roof Permit Application. Hilliard does not: a re-roof here goes through the Town's general Building Permit Application, accompanied by a Roofing Contractor Inspection Affidavit, and the Town sets its own permit fees by resolution. Same building code, same end result, different paperwork on two ends of the same county. We file the correct set either way.
Somewhere around 120 mph, which is the lowest ultimate design wind speed anywhere we work. The coast runs toward 130. That comes from Nassau County's adopted Florida Building Code map for the 2023 code, which runs its 120 mph contour through the western part of the county with Hilliard sitting essentially on it; the Town itself publishes no figure. One practical consequence: the wind-borne debris provisions that drive impact-rated glazing apply within a mile of the mean high-water line at 130 mph or more, so they do not reach Hilliard at all. For a specific address, the building department or the ASCE 7 hazard tool gives the number that governs.
Yes, by a wide margin. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey puts Hilliard's median year of construction at 1983, against 2003 in Callahan, 2004 in Yulee and 2000 for Nassau County as a whole. Even Fernandina Beach, with its historic district, is newer at 1986. In practice that means most roofs here are already on their second or third covering, on decking and flashing details that were installed to a much earlier edition of the code, so what we find under a Hilliard roof is less predictable than under a Yulee one.
A tree, not the wind. There is no salt this far inland and the design wind load is the lowest in our service area, so the two things that dominate coastal roofing barely register here. What does is canopy: the state measured Hilliard at 55 percent tree cover in 2023, the highest of any community in our service area, and the National Weather Service recorded a 50 mph gust at Hilliard during Hurricane Helene in September 2024 alongside trees falling on homes and cars across Nassau County. Debris in valleys and gutters, organic staining and limb strike are the local failure modes, and all three respond to maintenance rather than replacement.
Yes. Hilliard is inside our Nassau County service area and there is no minimum trip fee and no job too small. That applies here the same as it does five minutes from our office. Advocate Roofing and Construction works across Nassau, Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, and Nassau is where the largest share of our work is. Call or text (904) 707-6546 and we will get an inspection scheduled.
Up in Hilliard?It's still our service area
No minimum trip fee, no job too small, and no charge for coming out. Call or text us and we'll get an inspection on the calendar: house, barn or fence line.
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