diff --git a/examples/makebuildserver.config.py b/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
index 9795bf76..1d4bd0d3 100644
--- a/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
+++ b/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@
 # or if you have a cached local copy, you can use that first:
 # baseboxurl = ["file:///home/fdroid/fdroidserver/cache/jessie32.box", "https://f-droid.org/jessie32.box"]
 
+# In the process of setting up the build server, many gigs of files
+# are downloaded (Android SDK components, gradle, etc).  These are
+# cached so that they are not redownloaded each time. By default,
+# these are stored in ~/.cache/fdroidserver
+#
+# cachedir = 'buildserver/cache'
+
 # To specify which Debian mirror the build server VM should use, by
 # default it uses http.debian.net, which auto-detects which is the
 # best mirror to use.
diff --git a/makebuildserver b/makebuildserver
index ebd998b2..f745b0a3 100755
--- a/makebuildserver
+++ b/makebuildserver
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ config = {
     'arch64': False,
     'basebox': 'jessie32',
     'baseboxurl': 'https://f-droid.org/jessie32.box',
+    'cachedir': os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'), '.cache', 'fdroidserver'),
     'cpus': 1,
     'memory': 3584,
 }
@@ -72,9 +73,9 @@ if options.clean:
     vagrant(['destroy', '-f'], cwd=serverdir, printout=options.verbose)
 
 # Update cached files.
-cachedir = os.path.join('buildserver', 'cache')
+cachedir = config['cachedir']
 if not os.path.exists(cachedir):
-    os.mkdir(cachedir)
+    os.makedirs(cachedir, 0755)
 
 cachefiles = [
     ('android-sdk_r24.4.1-linux.tgz',