Bob is a graduate of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania where he studied engineering and graduated with a degree in mathematics and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Corps of Engineers. After active duty, Bob remained in the Army Reserve program and retired some 30 years later as a full colonel.

In 1970, Bob formed Bauman Construction Company, Inc., as a Delaware corporation and was a licensed contractor in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Bob operated his home building and remodeling business part-time while working in the military defense research and development business, initially with a non-profit research corporation which he helped to establish, and then later as a civilian scientist with the US Air Force and with the US Department of Defense in Washington, DC. Bob did graduate work in mathematics at American University and graduated with a masters degree in Engineering Administration from George Washington University.

In 1973, the US Environmental Protection Agency recruited Bob to join the agency as a scientist and manager at its national air pollution research facilities in Research Triangle Park, NC. For the next 22 years, Bob served as a manager with the US EPA in a variety of exciting and challenging assignments. As a US representative and delegate to several international organizations, Bob’s work took him all over the world–primarily throughout Europe and several middle eastern countries. In 1995, he retired from the US EPA with 32 years of government service.

During his service with the EPA, Bob continued with additional education. He attended technical and community colleges and obtained several North Carolina licenses. Bob is licensed as an electrical contractor, a plumbing contractor, a commercial refrigeration contractor, and is licensed as a residential, institutional, and commercial heating and air conditioning contractor. He is also one of the few licensed boiler contractors in this area. (In addition, Bob is licensed as a real estate broker.)

In 1978, Bob formed Southern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Service, Inc., and served as its president and chief operating officer until his wife’s illness in 1986 forced him to sell the business and temporarily relocate to Atlanta, GA. Upon his return to Chapel Hill, Bob responded to his former customers’ needs by forming BEAMCo in 1987.

Since 1987, BEAMCo has grown steadily from a part-time proprietorship to an established full-time business engaged primarily in heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) installation, service, and repair. BEAMCo prides itself on having the expertise to handle commercial boiler servicing as well as hydronic (steam and hot water) heating. Hydronic heating–sometimes called radiant heating, in-floor heating, or Apollo® HydroHeat–is experiencing a resurgence as an efficient home heating system and BEAMCo is the factory-trained and authorized service facility for Heatmaker® boilers and water heaters for this area. As a licensed plumbing contractor, BEAMCo has two licensed plumbers to handle residential and commercial plumbing needs. BEAMCo is equipped to tackle virtually all residential and commercial electrical wiring jobs: new construction, remodeling and additions, generator and emergency power plant installation, and service change-outs. BEAMCo has the expertise to service commercial kitchen equipment, and is proud to count among its customers scores of restaurants in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Durham, as well as most of the fraternities and sororities on the UNC-CH campus.