Class code 5183: plumbing NOC

By Adrian Middleton, Sword & Shield, PLLC · Updated Saturday, October 24, 2026

What code 5183 covers

• Installation, repair and service of plumbing systems in buildings: water supply, drain-waste-vent, fixtures, water heaters and gas piping by the plumbing crew.
• Rough-in and trim-out on new construction and remodel.
• Service and repair calls, including drain cleaning performed by the plumbing contractor.
• Apprentices, helpers and drivers.

What it does not cover

• HVAC, refrigeration and ductwork (5537) with separate records.
• Underground utility mains and sewer line construction in the street, separately classified.
• Fire sprinkler installation, separately classified.
• Clerical and outside sales (8810, 8742) for employees who do nothing else.

How the Division assigns it on a stop-work order

On a stop-work order worksheet, the investigator assigns a class code to each uninsured worker for each period from two sources: the employer's records (payroll by job, job descriptions, invoices, permits) and the investigator's own observation on the jobsite. With no records, Rule 69L-6.028 directs the Department to impute payroll at the highest-rated class code the investigator observed. Service vans, pipe and fixtures identify the crew. The worksheet question in plumbing is usually not the code but the headcount: apprentices and helpers paid as 1099 contractors are employees. Under the NCCI basic manual the governing class is the one with the most payroll, and an employee's payroll is assigned to a single code unless the records separate it by operation; interchange-of-labor splits require contemporaneous payroll records, not after-the-fact estimates. Getting a worker moved from code 5183 to a lower-rated code is a records argument, made line by line on Form DFS-F4-1595.

Because plumbing is licensed under Chapter 489, the Department must notify DBPR of the order under s. 440.107(14). DBPR treats failure to carry required workers' compensation as a licensing violation, and the qualifier for the business answers for it. See licensed contractors and the DBPR referral and the DBPR referral defense service.

Misclassification patterns the investigator looks for

• Apprentices or helpers paid as independent contractors: employees under s. 440.02(18)(c), $5,000 each under s. 440.107(7)(f) if represented otherwise.
• A qualifying agent's exemption on the licensed entity while the payroll runs through a different LLC: the exemption does not cover the paying entity, and the uninsured payroll is 5183.
• Service technicians coded 8742 as 'sales' because they quote jobs. If they turn a wrench, the payroll is 5183.

Clerical (8810) and outside sales (8742) are standard exception codes. A worker's payroll goes there only if their duties are exclusively clerical or sales and the records show it. An office manager who also runs materials to the jobsite, or an owner who sells jobs and swings a hammer, is assigned to the governing construction class for all of their payroll. This is the single most common reclassification on a penalty worksheet.

The rate

Florida's approved manual rate for this code is filed by NCCI and approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation effective each January 1. The Department's worksheet uses the rate in effect for each period of non-compliance, so a 24-month lookback can span three rate years. Rates are not stated on this page because they change; your agent, carrier or the current NCCI Florida rate pages have the figure. The free calculator takes the rate as an input.

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