diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ccfe933aa..3a1629f464 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ or, to build the full suite of utilities:
 make all
 ```
 
+If make `geth fails` due to a missing `build/ci.go` file  or related error, you can instead build Geth directly using:
+
+```shell
+go build -o geth ./cmd/geth
+```
+
 ## Executables
 
 The go-ethereum project comes with several wrappers/executables found in the `cmd`