diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 34aedb0d6..a1fe0b570 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 .pydevproject
 .idea
 .su?
+builds/*
 
 analytics.js
 inverse-analytics.js
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 6cb7a6240..ef0fbcb6f 100755
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 - Bookmark icon shown in the open rooms list when `allow_bookmarks` is to `false`.
 - It wasn't possible to add or remove bookmarks via the "Open Rooms" list.
 - #879 Text in links are converted to smileys leading to non-clickable links.
+- #902 `make build` dependends on non-existing files
 
 ## 3.1.1 (2017-07-12)
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e197f91d5..fbbf3b40d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ jsmin: $(BUILDS)
 dist:: build
 
 .PHONY: build
-build:: dev css
+build:: dev css transpile
 	$(GRUNT) json
 	make jsmin
 
diff --git a/builds/README.rst b/builds/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36249a2f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builds/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+This directory exists as a location for intermediate files generated by the
+Babel compiler, before they're bundled into distribution bundles in the
+`./dist/` directory.