diff --git a/scripts/packaging/build-rpm-local.sh b/scripts/packaging/build-rpm-local.sh
index c1a79eade237a28b94ef2a7e80a7e563d3940084..d6dc01013e2c7e7d9188b408e30ed5fc98c969f6 100755
--- a/scripts/packaging/build-rpm-local.sh
+++ b/scripts/packaging/build-rpm-local.sh
@@ -66,10 +66,15 @@ packages() {
   EXECUTABLES=$(cat script-inputs/*-executables)
   for ex in $EXECUTABLES; do
     if [ -f "$ex" ]; then
-      cp -f "$ex" "$BINARIES"
+      mv -f "$ex" "$BINARIES"
     fi
   done
 
+  # on the CI cleanup everything before building the packages
+  if [ -z "${CI:-}" ]; then
+    make clean
+  fi
+
   cp -a "$packaging_dir/scripts/packaging/octez/manpages/" "$SPECS_DIR/"
   cp -a "$packaging_dir/scripts/packaging/octez/scripts/" "$SPECS_DIR/"
   "$SPECS_DIR/"binaries/octez-node --help=groff > \