Custom software development
Applications, integrations and internal tools built to fit how your business actually runs, across multiple languages and platforms.
- Web and business applications
- Third-party integrations
- Maintenance and support
Est. 2000 · West Friendship, Maryland
Contriv Design gives small companies the software development, IT guidance and vendor coordination that usually only bigger budgets buy — scaled to what you actually need, and no more.
How we work
Three words we've had to earn from the same local clients, year after year.
Small businesses get dropped by big vendors all the time. You'll deal with the same people from the first call through delivery and support.
Custom software across a range of languages and platforms since 2000 — plus the judgement to tell you when the right answer is something you can buy off the shelf.
Engagements flex from a few hours of advice to a full build. You're not paying for scope you don't need.
Services
Most of our clients don't need a department. They need someone who can take an idea and see it through — and who knows who to call for the parts that fall outside the code.
We do the same work for public agencies looking to modernize.
Applications, integrations and internal tools built to fit how your business actually runs, across multiple languages and platforms.
Guidance from concept to delivery: capturing requirements, sizing the work honestly, and keeping the plan tied to a timeline and a budget.
A network of providers vetted over twenty-plus years — legal, accounting, design and specialist development — brought in only when your project needs them.
Technology that helps public agencies modernize the processes they run on — built after we understand the tools and operations already in place.
Real project experience for students and early-career technologists looking to build a portfolio and understand how the work is done professionally.
The process
Tell us the idea or the problem. No charge, no obligation, and an NDA if you want the details kept confidential.
We document requirements properly, so what gets built matches what you had in mind — and so you own that document either way.
Something you can see and react to, with a defined timeline and budget attached before the larger commitment.
We deliver, hand over, and stay reachable. Ongoing support scaled to whatever you actually need.
Selected clients
A selection of the companies we've built for. Hover to see each in full color.
Next step
Bring an idea, a problem, or a quote you'd like a second opinion on.
Services
Five practices that overlap more often than not. Most engagements start in one and quietly borrow from the others.
01 — Practice
We've been building custom software since 2000, across a range of languages and platforms. That range matters more for a small business than it does for an enterprise: you need the tool that fits the problem, not the one that fits a vendor's licence agreement.
Typical work is a business application, an integration between systems that don't talk to each other, or an internal tool that replaces a spreadsheet everyone is afraid of. We build it, we hand it over, and we stay available for changes.
If the honest answer is that an off-the-shelf product will serve you better, we'll say so — and help you set it up.
02 — Practice
Do you have a concept and don't know what to do next? That's the question this practice exists to answer.
We help you capture and document the necessary details and product requirements, then guide you through a proof of concept with a defined timeline and budget — so that the decision to go further is made with real information rather than a hunch.
The documentation is yours regardless of who builds it. That's deliberate: it means the engagement is useful even if it ends there.
03 — Practice
Over twenty-plus years we've cultivated a network of service providers we trust — legal, accounting, software development, graphic design, and other specialities a project calls for.
When your project needs one of them, we make the introduction, help scope the work, and manage the hand-off so nothing falls between two vendors. You get specialist help without becoming a project manager.
04 — Practice
Public agencies have the same modernization problems as private companies, with tighter constraints and more people depending on the outcome. Our aim in this work is to give government organizations technology that drives efficiency, transparency and effectiveness.
We start by building an in-depth understanding of the tools and operations already in place — what actually runs, and what people actually do with it. That's usually the difference between a system that gets adopted and one that gets worked around. From there we design and implement the most resilient, effective and scalable solution the constraints allow.
We're committed to building resilient systems and to making sure the technology serves everyone an agency is responsible for — not only the people who administer it.
Capability data
NAICS registrations
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 541511 | Custom Computer Programming Services Primary |
| 541330 | Engineering Services |
| 541512 | Computer Systems Design Services |
| 541519 | Other Computer Related Services |
| 541690 | Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services |
05 — Practice
We work with students and people early in their IT careers who need real project experience — the kind that produces a portfolio and an understanding of how professional work is actually run.
If that's you, or someone you know, we're happy to schedule an interview.
Next step
Most people aren't. That's what the free consultation is for.
About
Contriv Design is an IT consulting and software development firm in West Friendship, Maryland. Twenty-five years in, most of our work still comes from clients we've already served and the people they send our way.
con·trive
1. to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent.
The name was the brief
Who we are
Small companies have the same technology problems as large ones — they just don't have a department to hand them to. The usual options are a freelancer who disappears, or a firm whose minimum engagement costs more than the problem.
We were built for the space between. Since 2000 we've given small businesses reliable service and adaptable solutions: a real technology partner, available at a scale that makes sense for a company of ten or twenty people.
The work spans custom software development, consulting from concept to delivery, coordinating the specialists a project needs along the way, and helping government agencies modernize the systems the public depends on. What holds it together is that you're talking to people who have been doing this locally for a long time, and who intend to still be here next year.
What we hold to
Including the ones that cost us the work. If you don't need what we sell, you'll hear that first.
We'll provide an NDA to ensure the details of your project stay confidential — before you tell us anything.
Scope is shaped around your budget from the first conversation, not discovered halfway through.
We mentor students and early-career technologists, because someone did that for us.
Next step
Contact
Consultations are free. If the details are sensitive, ask for an NDA and we'll send one before you say another word.
Request a quote
Students and early-career technologists: mention "mentorship" and we'll schedule an interview.