diff --git a/scripts/makefile_helper b/scripts/makefile_helper
index e4be313ab9..bc70837587 100755
--- a/scripts/makefile_helper
+++ b/scripts/makefile_helper
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ fi
 # task handling
 case $1 in
   --clean)
-    chmod -R u+rwX "${BUILD_ROOT}/${BUILD_BASE}."* 2>/dev/null
+    chmod -R u+rwX "${BUILD_ROOT}/${BUILD_BASE}."*/build/syncthing-* 2>/dev/null || true
     rm -rf "${BUILD_ROOT}/${BUILD_BASE}."*/* "${BUILD_ROOT}/${BUILD_BASE}."*/.stamps
     ;;
   --distclean)