diff --git a/crates/occt-sys/Cargo.toml b/crates/occt-sys/Cargo.toml
index 2f2256c0..0d404d0f 100644
--- a/crates/occt-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/occt-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,12 +22,4 @@ exclude = [
 ]
 
 [dependencies]
-
-[build-dependencies]
 cmake = "0.1"
-
-# Adding an empty workspace table so occt-sys doesn't believe
-# it's in the parent workspace. This crate is excluded from
-# the top-level workspace because it takes quite awhile to
-# build and the crate doesn't change very often.
-[workspace]
diff --git a/crates/occt-sys/build.rs b/crates/occt-sys/build.rs
index cf29ef7d..0b9eadcf 100644
--- a/crates/occt-sys/build.rs
+++ b/crates/occt-sys/build.rs
@@ -1,33 +1,12 @@
-const LIB_DIR: &str = "lib";
-const INCLUDE_DIR: &str = "include";
+use std::{env::var, path::Path};
 
 fn main() {
-    let current_dir = std::env::current_dir().expect("Should have a 'current' directory");
-    let patch_dir = current_dir.join("patch");
-
-    let dst = cmake::Config::new("OCCT")
-        .define("BUILD_PATCH", patch_dir)
-        .define("BUILD_LIBRARY_TYPE", "Static")
-        .define("BUILD_MODULE_ApplicationFramework", "FALSE")
-        .define("BUILD_MODULE_Draw", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_D3D", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_DRACO", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_EIGEN", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_FFMPEG", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_FREEIMAGE", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_FREETYPE", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_GLES2", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_OPENGL", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_OPENVR", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_RAPIDJSON", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_TBB", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_TCL", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_TK", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_VTK", "FALSE")
-        .define("USE_XLIB", "FALSE")
-        .define("INSTALL_DIR_LIB", LIB_DIR)
-        .define("INSTALL_DIR_INCLUDE", INCLUDE_DIR)
-        .build();
-
-    println!("cargo:rustc-env=OCCT_PATH={}", dst.to_str().expect("path is valid Unicode"));
+    println!(
+        "cargo:rustc-env=OCCT_SRC_DIR={}",
+        Path::new(&var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap()).join("OCCT").to_string_lossy()
+    );
+    println!(
+        "cargo:rustc-env=OCCT_PATCH_DIR={}",
+        Path::new(&var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap()).join("patch").to_string_lossy()
+    );
 }
diff --git a/crates/occt-sys/src/lib.rs b/crates/occt-sys/src/lib.rs
index f1dde4dd..0f1b4c33 100644
--- a/crates/occt-sys/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/occt-sys/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,46 @@
-use std::path::Path;
+use std::{
+    env::var,
+    path::{Path, PathBuf},
+};
+
+const LIB_DIR: &str = "lib";
+const INCLUDE_DIR: &str = "include";
 
 /// Get the path to the OCCT library installation directory to be
 /// used in build scripts.
 ///
 /// Only valid during build (`cargo clean` removes these files).
-pub fn occt_path() -> &'static Path {
-    Path::new(env!("OCCT_PATH"))
+pub fn occt_path() -> PathBuf {
+    // moves the output into target/TARGET/OCCT
+    // this way its less likely to be rebuilt without a cargo clean
+    Path::new(&var("OUT_DIR").expect("missing OUT_DIR")).join("../../../../OCCT")
+}
+
+/// Build the OCCT library.
+pub fn build_occt() {
+    cmake::Config::new(Path::new(env!("OCCT_SRC_DIR")))
+        .define("BUILD_PATCH", Path::new(env!("OCCT_PATCH_DIR")))
+        .define("BUILD_LIBRARY_TYPE", "Static")
+        .define("BUILD_MODULE_ApplicationFramework", "FALSE")
+        .define("BUILD_MODULE_Draw", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_D3D", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_DRACO", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_EIGEN", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_FFMPEG", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_FREEIMAGE", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_FREETYPE", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_GLES2", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_OPENGL", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_OPENVR", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_RAPIDJSON", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_TBB", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_TCL", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_TK", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_VTK", "FALSE")
+        .define("USE_XLIB", "FALSE")
+        .define("INSTALL_DIR_LIB", LIB_DIR)
+        .define("INSTALL_DIR_INCLUDE", INCLUDE_DIR)
+        .profile("Release")
+        .out_dir(occt_path())
+        .build();
 }