diff --git a/contrib/teamcity/build-configurations.sh b/contrib/teamcity/build-configurations.sh
--- a/contrib/teamcity/build-configurations.sh
+++ b/contrib/teamcity/build-configurations.sh
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@
 export TOPLEVEL
 
 setup() {
-  export BUILD_DIR="${TOPLEVEL}/build"
-
+  : "${BUILD_DIR:=${TOPLEVEL}/build}"
   mkdir -p "${BUILD_DIR}/output"
+  BUILD_DIR=$(cd "${BUILD_DIR}"; pwd)
+  export BUILD_DIR
+
   TEST_RUNNER_FLAGS="--tmpdirprefix=output"
 
   cd "${BUILD_DIR}"