diff --git a/Makefile.inc1 b/Makefile.inc1
index c516f2495fa8..28bcaa2eae14 100644
--- a/Makefile.inc1
+++ b/Makefile.inc1
@@ -431,8 +431,13 @@ buildkernel:
 			${KERNCONFDIR}/${_kernel}
 .endif
 .if !defined(NOCLEAN) && !defined(NO_KERNELCLEAN)
+.if defined(NO_MODULES) || !exists(${KRNLSRCDIR}/modules)
+	cd ${KRNLOBJDIR}/${_kernel}; \
+	    ${KMAKEENV} ${MAKE} KERNEL=${INSTKERNNAME} clean
+.else`
 	cd ${KRNLOBJDIR}/${_kernel}; \
 	    ${KMAKEENV} ${MAKE} KERNEL=${INSTKERNNAME} clean cleandir
+.endif
 .endif
 	cd ${KRNLOBJDIR}/${_kernel}; \
 		MAKESRCPATH=${KRNLSRCDIR}/dev/aic7xxx/aicasm \