diff --git a/build.psm1 b/build.psm1
index 0ee4ca62da..a5b5ba385d 100644
--- a/build.psm1
+++ b/build.psm1
@@ -203,6 +203,8 @@ function Start-PSBuild {
         [switch]$StopDevPowerShell,
 
         [switch]$Restore,
+        # Accept a path to the output directory
+        # When specified, --output <path> will be passed to dotnet
         [string]$Output,
         [switch]$ResGen,
         [switch]$TypeGen,
@@ -323,11 +325,8 @@ Fix steps:
 
     # setup arguments
     $Arguments = @("publish","--no-restore","/property:GenerateFullPaths=true")
-    if ($Output) {
-        $Arguments += "--output", $Output
-    }
-    elseif ($SMAOnly) {
-        $Arguments += "--output", (Split-Path $script:Options.Output)
+    if ($Output -or $SMAOnly) {
+        $Arguments += "--output", (Split-Path $Options.Output)
     }
 
     $Arguments += "--configuration", $Options.Configuration
@@ -605,6 +604,10 @@ function New-PSOptions {
 
         [switch]$CrossGen,
 
+        # Accept a path to the output directory
+        # If not null or empty, name of the executable will be appended to
+        # this path, otherwise, to the default path, and then the full path
+        # of the output executable will be assigned to the Output property
         [string]$Output,
 
         [switch]$SMAOnly,
@@ -683,6 +686,8 @@ function New-PSOptions {
         } else {
             $Output = [IO.Path]::Combine($Top, "bin", $Configuration, $Framework, $Runtime, "publish", $Executable)
         }
+    } else {
+        $Output = [IO.Path]::Combine($Output, $Executable)
     }
 
     if ($SMAOnly)