By Adrian Middleton, Sword & Shield, PLLC · Updated Saturday, October 24, 2026
What code 5480 covers
- Interior and exterior plastering, stucco, lath installation, and EIFS or synthetic stucco systems.
- Scaffolding erected by the stucco crew for its own work.
- Patching, repair and refinishing of plaster and stucco surfaces.
- Crew helpers, mixers and cleanup.
What it does not cover
- Drywall hanging and finishing (5445) with separate records.
- Masonry block and brick work (5022).
- Painting of the finished surface (5474) by a separate crew.
- Concrete work (5213, 5221).
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. Mixers, hawks and trowels, lath and scaffolding are recorded on the field worksheet. A crew doing stucco outside and drywall inside the same structure without a payroll split by operation is assigned to the higher-rated of the two for all hours. 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 5480 to a lower-rated code is a records argument, made line by line on Form DFS-F4-1595.
Misclassification patterns the investigator looks for
- Stucco crews paid per square foot and called subcontractors: employees under s. 440.02(18)(c) unless they carry their own policy.
- An exempt owner working the scaffold with uninsured helpers below him: the helpers are employees and the company is uninsured for them.
- Interchange-of-labor splits claimed after the fact. The NCCI rule requires contemporaneous payroll records by operation; a reconstruction prepared for the Department is not accepted.
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.
Why 'construction' matters
Rule 69L-6.021, F.A.C. lists code 5480 as a construction industry classification. That means one employee triggers the coverage requirement (s. 440.02(20)(b)2), no more than three exempt officers per company or affiliated group (s. 440.02(18)(b)2), and a $50 fee for each officer exemption (s. 440.05(8)(a)).
Served with a worksheet that rates your crew at code 5480? We audit it line by line before anything is produced.
(850) 766-6825Pre-submission auditQuestions
Is EIFS coded the same as stucco?+
Synthetic stucco systems are generally within 5480. Records that describe the work as EIFS do not move it to a lower code.
Can my stucco and drywall crews share one code?+
If one employee does both, the payroll is assigned to the higher-rated code unless the records separate it by operation. Separate crews with separate payroll records are coded separately.