Coffman Engineers Acquires S.S. Dannaway Associates

Words: Bronzella Cleveland

Coffman Engineers, Inc., a mid-sized, multidiscipline engineering firm, has acquired Honolulu-based fire protection engineering firm S.S. Dannaway Associates, Inc (SSDA).

SSDA is the Pacific Rim’s leading fire protection engineering firm. They bring to Coffman 14 staff members and more than 30 years of experience through offices in Honolulu and Guam. Coffman has more than 360 employees with eight office locations serving clients across the United States and overseas.

Coffman Engineers Founder, Dave Coffman, said: “I am particularly excited about the fire protection engineering growth at Coffman with the addition of Sam Dannaway and his staff. We have a great deal of respect for the successful business Sam has built, their technical capabilities, and their dominance in the Pacific Rim fire protection market. We are privileged to provide SSDA employees a great place to work, commitment to their career growth, and support for SSDA clients with the excellence in services they have come to expect.”

Founder and President of S.S. Dannaway, Samuel S. Dannaway, added: “All of us at S.S. Dannaway Associates are thrilled to join the Coffman team. We are very excited that our fire protection group will play a key role in fulfilling the Coffman commitment to providing quality fire protection engineering throughout the United States and important international markets.”

SSDA’s employees will remain in their current office location. Samuel Dannaway, PE, FSFPE, will become VP of Fire Protection Technology at Coffman. Other SSDA partners Robert T. Bigtas, PE; and Jay T. Higashi, PE, will become principals at Coffman and lead the Pacific Region fire protection group.

The addition of the SSDA staff brings Coffman’s Honolulu presence to more than 40 multidiscipline engineers and support staff, and also grows the companywide fire protection engineering group to 40 professionals located across the country.

PPE That Workers Actually Wear: Building Buy-In Through Education and Smart Selection
August 2026

In masonry construction, personal protective equipment (PPE) is often the last line of defense between a worker and an injury. Yet despite its importance, PPE compliance remains one of the most common challenges on jobsites across the country. The realit

Zero Laydown: Navigating the Logistics of Tight Urban Job Sites
August 2026

In modern commercial construction, spatial real estate has become just as valuable as the materials themselves. The industry shift toward high-density, urban projects means that the sprawling job sites of the past have been replaced by tight footprints wh

Why "The Software Can't Track That" Is Finally Going Away
August 2026

For as long as specialty contractors have used field software, most of them have kept a workaround somewhere: a spreadsheet on a foreman's laptop, a whiteboard in the trailer, or a text thread where crew leads send block counts at the end of the day becau

Monadnock Building
August 2026

Chicago’s Monadnock Building doesn’t dominate the skyline the way it once did. Surrounded by steel-and-glass towers, the dark brick structure can seem almost understated. But for anyone in the masonry industry, it remains one of the most important buildin