diff --git a/platform/nodejs/install.js b/platform/nodejs/install.js
index e3fb85ac2..7c3ceb854 100644
--- a/platform/nodejs/install.js
+++ b/platform/nodejs/install.js
@@ -29,5 +29,6 @@ import { pslInit } from './index.js';
 
 /******************************************************************************/
 
+fs.mkdirSync('./build', { recursive: true });
 fs.writeFileSync('./build/publicsuffixlist.json',
                  JSON.stringify(pslInit().toSelfie()));
diff --git a/tools/make-nodejs.sh b/tools/make-nodejs.sh
index 1dedfefb2..fe66805a9 100755
--- a/tools/make-nodejs.sh
+++ b/tools/make-nodejs.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ set -e
 
 DES=dist/build/uBlock0.nodejs
 
+rm -rf $DES
+
 mkdir -p $DES/js
 cp src/js/base64-custom.js           $DES/js
 cp src/js/biditrie.js                $DES/js
@@ -47,9 +49,6 @@ node -pe "JSON.stringify(fs.readFileSync('$THIRDPARTY/easylist.txt', 'utf8'))" \
 node -pe "JSON.stringify(fs.readFileSync('$THIRDPARTY/easyprivacy.txt', 'utf8'))" \
     > $DES/data/easyprivacy.json
 
-rm -rf $DES/build
-mkdir -p $DES/build
-
 cp platform/nodejs/*.js   $DES/
 cp platform/nodejs/*.json $DES/
 cp LICENSE.txt            $DES/