diff --git a/build/build.js b/build/build.js
index 2129f0d0f..39ca7bc41 100644
--- a/build/build.js
+++ b/build/build.js
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 
 'use strict'
 
+const cleanOutputDirectory = require('./lib/clean-output-directory')
 const transpileBabelPaths = require('./lib/transpile-babel-paths')
 const transpileCoffeeScriptPaths = require('./lib/transpile-coffee-script-paths')
 
+cleanOutputDirectory()
 transpileBabelPaths()
 transpileCoffeeScriptPaths()
diff --git a/build/lib/clean-output-directory.js b/build/lib/clean-output-directory.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..56613ed50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/lib/clean-output-directory.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+const fs = require('fs-extra')
+const path = require('path')
+const CONFIG = require('../config')
+
+module.exports = function () {
+  if (fs.existsSync(CONFIG.buildOutputPath)) {
+    console.log(`Cleaning ${CONFIG.buildOutputPath}...`);
+    fs.removeSync(CONFIG.buildOutputPath)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/build/package.json b/build/package.json
index ad2bbe28d..0b2c461cf 100644
--- a/build/package.json
+++ b/build/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
   "name": "atom-build-scripts",
   "description": "Atom build scripts",
   "dependencies": {
-    "glob": "^7.0.3",
-    "mkdirp": "^0.5.1"
+    "fs-extra": "0.30.0",
+    "glob": "7.0.3",
+    "mkdirp": "0.5.1"
   }
 }