Doing business with a handshake

At R. C. Wegman Construction Company, Terry Bohr, president, is dedicated to upholding the founder's belief in honest business practices and high quality work. After taking the helm from his father-in-law, Bohr has maintained the company's small size to continue offering personalized service.

For nearly half a century, R.C. Wegman Construction Company established and upheld their legacy of excellence. As a full service commercial and industrial construction company, their family-oriented style of doing business has left them with a strong reputation in and around the greater Chicago and Aurora, Ill. area as honest, honorable and committed to quality construction.
Robert “Chic” Wegman and his partner Howard Banks founded the company as Banks & Wegman Builders in Aurora, Ill., just 40 miles west of Chicago. Initially, the company focused on residential construction, for both new developments and remodeling projects. Over time, the company saw great success. Eventually, Banks left the industry to pursue an income he found to be more stable for supporting his nine children. Wegman continued to uphold the business, changing the name to R.C. Wegman Construction Company.
“Mr. Wegman always focused on the importance of a quality reputation,” said Terry Bohr, the current company president and son-in-law to Wegman. “Above all, he wanted to ensure a reputation of honest business practices and high quality work. He did a lot of business with nothing more than a handshake, and has given the company name the highest standing as a builder within the Aurora, Ill. community.”
Robert Wegman retired as company president in 1993, at which time his three sons, Carl, Paul and Chris Wegman, took over as the leaders of the business. Carl Wegman served as president until recently, in 2006, when Bohr stepped up to the position. Throughout these years, the company retained its reputation for honesty and excellence.
R. C. Wegman suffered a tremendous loss on November 12th, 2010, when Paul Wegman passed away after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.  His loss has left a void in the company that will be difficult to replace, but the company continues to move forward, committed to the principles established by Paul’s father.
“My father-in-law always took extra measures to establish great working relationships with our subcontractors, and we uphold that tradition,” Bohr said. “They always knew that when they had a job with us they were going to get paid. Many in the construction industry can easily obtain a seedy reputation. Our heavy emphasis is on the way we operate. Our supervisors and superintendents know how our subcontractors work best, and strive to provide them with the ideal environment so that they can produce their ideal work.”
Today, the company has moved out of the residential market, vastly increasing their range and scope within a wide array of commercial and industry verticals.  With a highly qualified and practiced staff of 18, each averaging 24 years worth of experience in the industry, the myriad project types that R.C. Wegman Construction Company performs are always completed with a specialist’s attention to detail and quality.
“Within the many types of projects that we’ve done, we also ensure great flexibility for the scope of our services for each client,” Bohr said. “We hard bid as a general contractor. We provide a specialized team for construction management services. We maintain great working relationships with some of our area’s best architects, in order to provide a full suite of design/build services.”
R.C. Wegman Construction Company’s range extends through the various specialty sectors of banking,  police stations, education facilities, casinos, cultural centers and museums, bridges, supermarkets, golf clubhouses, bakeries and restaurants, churches, parking structures and park facilities, just to name a few. The scope of the company’s services within these project types ranges from repairs to total interior and/or exterior renovations, as well as new construction.
Among the most frequent of R.C. Wegman Construction Company’s project types are firehouses. Throughout their history, the company has successfully completed 13 new fire stations within their traditional range of approximately 40 miles surrounding the city of Aurora.
“With a fire station,” Bohr said, “you have a building that never closes or ceases to be in use. Most homes and business get some kind of a break during work or during play. It is essential that both the builder and the designer understand this. The materials used during construction need to be of the highest quality, because the building is going to see three times as much use as a regular structure.
“Also, this is going to be the occupants’ home away from home. We make sure that the environment is as comfortable as possible. Many aspects of the design are quite unique to fire houses. The apparatus bay, where all of the vehicles are kept and maintained, needs to be uniquely ventilated and exhausted. The heating for such a bay is unique in that they are inhabited by massive fire engines, while frequently being left open to the whims of the elements.
“You don’t have to be a specialist to do a fire station. You just need to work hard and work smart so that every element of the design of the building is taken into consideration. Now, with such work already under our belts, we can go to other fire protection districts and speak intelligently about fire station design. The clients can then rest assured that we are entirely capable and knowledgeable.”
One of R.C. Wegman Construction Company’s most unique and challenging projects was the Hollywood Casino Dockside Gaming Facility, built on the Fox River, which flows through the heart of downtown Aurora. Because the challenges of building on the river, the structure was built in four separate pieces. Each of the pieces was completed further up the river before being joined to one of the other sections of the building. The two pieces were then floated carefully down the river to the building’s final location. As both sections arrived, the teams from R.C. Wegman Construction Company worked quickly and carefully to secure the building and connect it permanently to the casino pavilion structure.
Inside the building is one of the most secure and technologically advanced casinos in the state. The 180,000 sq. ft. floating radius casino was officially opened in 2002. Because of R.C. Wegman Construction Company’s ability to meet the repeated demands of the Hollywood Casino, they have been a repeat client since 1992.
“We’ve had the chance to grow beyond our current size,” Bohr said, “but we’ve refrained from that because it allows us to keep our best people employed, trained and happy. We don’t have grand expectations of becoming Chicago’s next construction powerhouse. We’re the best mid-sized company we can be, and we can do the same job as any mega corporation, but with more personalized service and all around more bang for the client’s buck.” CLT