diff --git a/Source/cmLocalNinjaGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmLocalNinjaGenerator.cxx
index 81425991c4..7f7b1e7d73 100644
--- a/Source/cmLocalNinjaGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmLocalNinjaGenerator.cxx
@@ -698,8 +698,6 @@ void cmLocalNinjaGenerator::WriteCustomCommandBuildStatement(
           case cmPolicies::REQUIRED_IF_USED:
           case cmPolicies::REQUIRED_ALWAYS:
           case cmPolicies::NEW:
-            cmSystemTools::MakeDirectory(
-              cmStrCat(this->GetBinaryDirectory(), "/CMakeFiles/d"));
             depfile = ccg.GetInternalDepfile();
             break;
         }
diff --git a/Source/cmTransformDepfile.cxx b/Source/cmTransformDepfile.cxx
index 0df9550b82..039b19de3a 100644
--- a/Source/cmTransformDepfile.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTransformDepfile.cxx
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ bool cmTransformDepfile(cmDepfileFormat format, const cmLocalGenerator& lg,
     content = *std::move(result);
   }
 
+  cmSystemTools::MakeDirectory(cmSystemTools::GetFilenamePath(outfile));
   cmsys::ofstream fout(outfile.c_str());
   if (!fout) {
     return false;