diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 9f361c27d6..5965e06d63 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -174,6 +174,8 @@ having a set of builds converge on the same repository for integration purposes.
 
   <target name="extract-assembly" depends="init,maven-assembly" description="extracts the maven assembly into maven.home">
     <echo>Extracting assembly to ${maven.home.dirname} ...</echo>
+    <!-- If we are starting from scratch make sure the directory is created -->
+    <mkdir dir="${maven.home}"/>
     <!-- Deleting the contents inside maven.home allow one to use symlinks for maven.home and still have this work. -->      
     <delete>
       <fileset dir="${maven.home}">