diff --git a/doc/build-osx.md b/doc/build-osx.md
--- a/doc/build-osx.md
+++ b/doc/build-osx.md
@@ -43,8 +43,12 @@
 
     You can disable the GUI build by passing `--without-gui` to configure.
 
+    It is recommended to create a build directory to build out-of-tree. 
+
         ./autogen.sh
-        ./configure
+        mkdir build
+        cd build
+        ../configure
         make
 
 3.  It is recommended to build and run the unit tests:
diff --git a/doc/build-unix.md b/doc/build-unix.md
--- a/doc/build-unix.md
+++ b/doc/build-unix.md
@@ -17,9 +17,13 @@
 To Build
 ---------------------
 
+It is recommended to create a build directory to build out-of-tree.
+
 ```bash
 ./autogen.sh
-./configure
+mkdir build
+cd build
+../configure
 make
 make install # optional
 ```