diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9fe458cf9d..40d374b75f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -184,4 +184,10 @@ appimage-%:
 
 lint: check-single-includes clint lualint pylint
 
+build/%:
+	$(BUILD_CMD) -C build $(patsubst build/%,%,$@)
+
+$(DEPS_BUILD_DIR)/%:
+	$(BUILD_CMD) -C $(DEPS_BUILD_DIR) $(patsubst $(DEPS_BUILD_DIR)/%,%,$@)
+
 .PHONY: test lualint pylint functionaltest unittest lint clint clean distclean nvim libnvim cmake deps install appimage checkprefix