For drylining contractors — and whoever prices the work
Every UK plasterboard.* Every brand side by side. Track and compare your own rates.
Every board from British Gypsum, Knauf and Siniat in one place — not three websites and a folder of data sheets. Find each brand’s candidate for the specified board in one click, compare it against the rates your own merchants quote you, and propose the change with every value cited.
*All right — every board from British Gypsum, Knauf and Siniat that has survived our line-by-line review against its manufacturer data sheet: 198 SKUs and climbing. “Every” is the roadmap. We’d rather be cited than complete.
Every value reviewed line by line against its manufacturer data sheet before it ships — so the board you price is the board the manufacturer declares. The comparison rules are versioned and explainable — never a hidden heuristic.
Three brands' ranges, one search
Search by name, material code or performance: “12.5mm moisture resistant under 9 kg/m²” is a search, across all three manufacturers at once. Every filter chip carries a live count, so you know whether a 2700 length or a 15mm moisture board is made — and by whom — before you click.
One click: every brand's candidate, against your own rates
≈ finds each brand's closest or-equivalent candidate for the specified board and lines them up — every match and every difference stated, and, once your rates are in, each one's rate set against the specified board's with the lowest-rate candidate flagged. The rules that select them are versioned and explainable; nothing is a hidden heuristic.
Your merchant rates — and when they moved
Record what each merchant actually quotes you, per board or per pack, with quantity breaks. Every change is dated, so you can see when a rate crept up and which quotes are going stale before you price on them. Your rates are yours alone: never in shared links, never in outward documents, exported and erased with your account.
Asked for savings? Know the number first
When the main contractor asks you to value-engineer, the comparison already shows each candidate's % difference from your own rates — whether you start from the specified board or the one you'd normally fit. Pro prints it as a confidential rate comparison for the job file. In a fire-rated build-up, check any board change against the system's own test evidence.
Get the change approved
Propose the board with a substitution document — citation-complete, watermarked, ready for the architect or main contractor. Every claim in it traces to a manufacturer document and revision, so the reviewer can check every value without chasing a data sheet. Your rates never appear in it.
Straight from the product
A real comparison — every value cited
The standard 12.5mm wallboard from each manufacturer, copied verbatim — differing values highlighted, and the row that matters names the document every value came from.
| BG Gyproc WallBoard 12.5mm | Knauf Knauf Wallboard | Siniat GTEC Standard Board | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size (mm) | 1200×2400 | 1200×2400 | 1200×2400 |
| Standard | EN 520 Type A | EN 520 Type A | EN 520 Type A |
| Weight (kg/m²) | 7.7 | 8.1 | 8.0 |
| Thermal λ (W/mK) | 0.19 | 0.25 | 0.19 |
| Reaction to fire | A2-s1, d0 | A2-s1, d0 | A2-s1, d0 |
| Data source | PDS Gyproc WallBoard 12.5 mm · 17 October 2025 | Knauf Wallboard 12.5mm product variants (knauf.com) | GTEC Standard Board 12.5mm size listing (siniat.co.uk) |
A frozen example — the other 195 boards, the comparison rules and the substitution documents are inside. See the full annotated comparison →
…and every board opens as a full data sheet
Click any board — in a comparison like the one above, or in any search result — and it opens with its declared values, face colours, dimensions and per-board weights, each line citing the manufacturer document and revision it came from.
Pricing
Free for 7 days — then one plan
No card for the trial — and no tiers after it. Everything drywallDB does is in the one plan; there’s no bigger plan holding features back, and no allowance to second-guess. If one board change on one tender saves more than £290, the year has paid for itself — and the rate comparison gives you the % difference to work that out before you decide.
Cancel any time — access runs to the end of the period.
£24.17/month equivalent — save £58 a year against monthly.
- Full search, filters and cross-brand ≈ comparisons
- Board data sheets, cited to the manufacturer document
- Substitution request documents — citation-complete, print-ready
- Confidential rate comparisons at your own supplier rates
- 50 projects, 20 saved views in each
- A rate book of up to 2,500 rates with dated history
Your saved work is yours regardless — export and deletion are always self-service.
Who it’s for
Built for drylining contractors, and the estimator or QS pricing their work. Pricing a tender? Find boards that meet the spec without over-specifying, and compare them against your own rates. Asked to value-engineer? Put each brand’s candidate side by side with the % difference at your rates stated, then propose it with the evidence. Reviewing an “or equivalent”? Check the claim against the declared classifications, sources named. Checking a spec? Confirm the values it claims against the manufacturer’s own cited data — and query the errors before you price them. Curious what’s made? Whether anyone makes a 15mm moisture board at 1200×2700mm is three filter chips — every brand answered at once.
Questions
- Where does the data come from?
- Every value is taken from an archived manufacturer document — product data sheets, declarations of performance, or the manufacturer's own listings — reviewed line by line before it ships. Comparisons name their sources and revisions.
- Is drywallDB connected to any of the manufacturers?
- No. drywallDB is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or funded by British Gypsum, Knauf, Siniat or any other manufacturer whose products it lists. No manufacturer pays to be included, and none has any say in which products appear or how they compare. Manufacturer names are used only to identify the products their data sheets describe.
- Is board-for-board substitution valid in a fire-rated system?
- Not automatically — fire-rated systems are tested with specific boards, and drywallDB tells you so on every fire-related comparison. That honesty is the point: the substitution document states what is and isn't being claimed.
- What happens after the trial?
- Seven days of full search and comparison, no card. After that, Pro is £29/month or £290/year. Your saved projects and account stay yours either way — export and deletion are always self-service.
- Are there pricing tiers?
- No — Pro is the whole product. Every feature and every document type is included, with allowances sized for a working estimator (50 projects, a 2,500-rate rate book) rather than metered to sell an upgrade. One plan, one decision.
- What's the difference between reaction to fire and fire resistance?
- Reaction to fire (e.g. A2-s1, d0) is a board property; fire resistance (minutes) belongs to a tested system. drywallDB never conflates them — see the guides below.
- Who can see my rates?
- No one but you. Supplier rates live on your account only — never in shared links, never in substitution documents, never aggregated. They're included in your data export and erased with your account.
- Does drywallDB publish market prices?
- No — and it never will. The rate book holds what your merchants quote you, so comparisons use figures you can actually buy at, not a list price nobody pays.
- Does it price the job?
- No — drywallDB doesn't produce prices. It keeps the rates your merchants quote you and compares them, per board: each candidate's rate against the specified board's. Quantities, studs, fixings, finishing and labour stay in your own build-up. For the board rates, it's the three brands side by side in seconds rather than an afternoon of data sheets and merchant calls.
- Can I check whether a board size is made?
- Yes — that's what the filter rail is for. Choose a board type, thickness and size and the live count on every chip shows, before you click, which brands declare that format and how many boards remain. It's what each manufacturer declares in its range, not merchant stock; and a zero result means not in the catalogue, not that no such board is made.
- What do I need to run drywallDB?
- Just a browser — nothing to install. Any up-to-date browser works: Chrome or Edge 111+, Safari 16.4+ (spring 2023 onwards), or Firefox 128+. Phone, tablet and desktop are all first-class; substitution documents print best from a desktop browser.