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Five years after taking over Coffey Engineering and Survey following the passing of his father, CEO Dave Coffey has finally seen his vision come true, with a new location and expanded business opportunities at 902 South Third.

“I came to town five years ago and wanted to see where we could take this company.

 “In the last five years, we have more than tripled the size of the company, after starting with five employees and taking it all the way as high as 19 in this location (at 903 Grand) but it didn’t take long to recognize that the space was inadequate.”

That growth didn’t happen on its own — after taking over the company, Coffey has changed the philosophy of what was a small family practice and turned it into a regional engineering company that has clients around the entire state, the Front Range and as far as Palm Springs, Calif.

 “I wanted to create a sustainable business, something that’s going to have some longevity after I’m gone. I don’t want it to revolve around me. I want it to be a little more sustainable and create jobs for the community; and we’ve done that. We’ve done that very well,” Coffey said.

In the five years that he’s been running the company, Coffey hasn’t just grown the business by hiring more employees, he’s also expanded the services that Coffey Engineering and Surveying offers to include graphics information systems, construction materials testing and energy-related projects.

The laboratory for materials testing is currently located in a small storage shed. The move will mean that the lab will finally be able to grow, as well as be located in the same structure as all employees, which will streamline employee efforts, Coffey said.

“We’ll be able to bring everything we need to operate efficiently under one roof,” Coffey added.

 Coffey Engineering and Surveying business development director Tim Stamp said that efficiency is truly what is driving the move.

“All of those things make this a real positive move for the business,” Stamp said.

But it’s not only a win for the business, Stamp added — it’s a win for that part of town.

“(Coffey’s) taken a building that has sat there with plywood boards on the front of it for more than 30 years and completely renovated it,” Stamp said. “To watch that take place and know that this company is going to be able to move all of its people into one place, the whole thing is pretty miraculous. It could have sat there empty for another 30 years and not had anything done with it,” Stamp said.

While the move will be a big change for Coffey Engineering, it won’t change the philosophy that has driven the success the company has experienced in the past five years.

“The vision of Coffey right now is to continue to serve the community of Laramie and look outside it’s borders to provide added value to our clients. We’ve developed a sense of community, we want to be here to serve the needs of our community and we can do that well than in our current office. In addition to that, we can take on larger projects and it will allow us to expand the depth and breadth of our company. If we stayed at our current location, we would never be able to experience more growth. We anticipate sometime in the next five years that we’ll reach 25 to 30 employees in the office,” Coffey said.