What is a site logbook in Turkey? How it differs from a daily report and what to record

At a meeting the client says, “bring the site logbook”. The office replies, “we produce a daily report every day”, while the foreman on site says, “the logbook is with the site chief”. Three people may mean three different things by the same word. You may hear the word in different senses within the same week. It looks simple at first, but referring to the wrong logbook wastes time and creates the wrong expectations. A site logbook is the book in which the work done on a site, inspections and the instructions given are tracked in writing; in everyday speech in Turkey the term is used both for the logbook required by Turkish building legislation and for the internal diary companies keep themselves. That is why the first step is to clarify which logbook is meant.

In this article we describe the logbook we were able to read and verify in the official Turkish text, how it differs from a daily site report and what is recorded in practice in an internal tracking record. We have not included any legal detail we could not verify.

What is a site logbook and how does the official text describe it?

In the definitions section (Art. 3) of the Building Inspection Implementation Regulation, the “building inspection logbook” is described as the book in which the results of the inspections carried out on site by the building inspection firm are entered, and which the site chief keeps on site. This is what we read in other relevant articles of the Regulation:

• Art. 3: The logbook is defined as above; in other words, the building inspection firm enters the inspection results, and the logbook stays on site.
• Art. 5: The duties of the building inspection firm include following the building inspection logbook in line with the form annexed to the Regulation.
• Art. 9: The site chief is obliged to keep on site the building inspection logbook in line with the annexed form, and to sign the relevant section of the logbook as well as other reports and documents drawn up by the building inspection firm.

The page layout of the logbook follows the form annexed to the Regulation; we do not reproduce the form here. The Regulation sets out the procedures and principles for applying Law No. 4708 on Building Inspection. Check with your building inspection firm, the relevant authority or your contract whether your work falls within this scope and which logbooks and forms must be kept. In public works, the specifications and contract may also require records; we did not review those texts for this article.

What is the site chief’s logbook, and who writes and keeps it?

The site chief is the person the building contractor appoints to the construction work and, as you saw above, is responsible for the official logbook on site. According to the text, the split is as follows: the building inspection firm enters the inspection results in the logbook, while the site chief keeps the logbook on site and signs the relevant section. When people say “the site chief’s logbook”, they usually mean this book: the one in the chief’s care that stays on site.

Are a daily site report and a site logbook the same thing?

No; they are kept for different purposes, and one does not replace the other. The comparison below summarises the difference between the official logbook and the daily report companies keep themselves.

What goes into a daily site diary and an internal tracking record?

We do not give a fixed legal list for the daily diary or report that companies keep themselves; if legislation requires one, that is a separate matter to check. In practice, internal diaries that work well include these headings:

• Date, day and the effect of the weather on work.
• Crews on site and headcount; full day, half day and overtime shown separately.
• Work done: block, floor and status.
• Materials received and requested, with delivery note details.
• Instructions given and received: who told whom what.
• Visits: if the client, an inspector or an authority representative came, the date and subject.
• Open defects and those closed.
• Incidents, work stoppages and OHS records.

The line most often skipped on this list is “instructions”. If a change given verbally on site is not recorded, months later who told whom what, and when, becomes a matter of dispute. Writing an instruction in the internal diary has no official effect, but it helps the parties remember the same event in the same way.

The single-day example below is fictional; it shows the time, the event, who recorded it and to whom an instruction was given:

Three questions to ask first when someone asks for a logbook

1. Which logbook do they mean? Clarify in writing whether the other party wants the building inspection logbook, your company’s daily report or another record named in the contract.
2. What framework does your work fall under? Is it a job within the scope of building inspection, a public tender or a private contract? Which logbook and form must be kept depends on this.
3. Does the contract or specification require additional records? Some contracts also require daily reports, photos or a record of instructions; these are obligations arising from the contract, separate from the legislation.

How do the official logbook and the internal diary work together?

The two records must not contradict each other. Dates, block and floor references and work names should be consistent in both; when an inspection finding is made, opening it as a defect in the internal system and tracking its closure leaves a working record behind the entry in the official logbook. Writing and signing the official logbook, however, is the job of the site chief and the building inspection firm; the internal diary does not take its place, nor does it serve as its official backing or make it mandatory.

Paper, Excel and WhatsApp for the internal diary: where they work and where they break

In a company with one site and one site chief, a paper logbook or an Excel diary can work smoothly for years. The strain starts at these points:

• With several sites, the office has to collect and read each logbook separately.
• Information from the site is written first on WhatsApp and then in the logbook; things get lost and delayed in between.
• There is no way to track who changed what and when.
• Because the logbook stays on site, the office only sees that day’s content later.

The strength of a paper logbook is that it can be filled in quickly on site and needs no internet connection. So rather than dropping it, it is more realistic to think of a second layer that brings the site record to the office the same day. The aim of the internal diary is not to replace the official logbook but to let the office see what is happening on site during the day and not lose track of instructions, defects and incidents.

Where does the SahaSesi AI daily report fit in?

In SahaSesi AI, foremen and tradespeople send text, voice messages and photos on WhatsApp; the messages are sorted into work log, timesheet, material, defect and incident records, and the office checks them in the panel. The day’s records line up in the daily report; once the site chief approves, the report is locked and every evening at 19:00 it goes to managers as a PDF divided by site. Changes leave a trail.

Let us be clear about the limit: SahaSesi AI’s daily report does not claim to replace the official logbook; it is the office’s internal tracking record. If you have official logbook obligations, you continue to meet them in line with Turkish legislation and your contract with your building inspection firm. SahaSesi AI is being rolled out on its first sites through a pilot programme.

If you would like to try keeping your internal tracking record from WhatsApp messages on your own site, you can schedule a pilot meeting on the SahaSesi AI page.