After finding Bell Plastics on the internet I drove down into the industrial bowels of Hayward one on rainy afternoon to talk with the proprietor about a small fabrication project. The area was quiet and very gray due to the weather. Turning onto National Ave all of a sudden there appear colorful plastic giants- a cowboy, lumberjack, Santa Claus and more. It was a rather surreal moment. Welcome to Bell Plastics, Hayward.

Contracting a fabricator you haven’t worked with before is always risky since you’re obligated to pay them for their work even if the final product is not what you had in mind. Especially after hiring one previously who didn’t deliver on quality or specs.

So I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of a recent award prototype that i designed which included steel fabrication and acrylic with engraving. The owner Bruce Kennedy provided not only a reasonable estimate, but offered some useful suggestions on improving the design, and provided helpful answers to more technical questions. When I asked him if he could speed the delivery date of the award by one day, he had it completed two days ahead of schedule.

Don’t be fooled by the “plastics” in the name, as they do work with other materials.