diff --git a/Makefile.inc1 b/Makefile.inc1
index 44af27d8963b..70756d6653b4 100644
--- a/Makefile.inc1
+++ b/Makefile.inc1
@@ -968,29 +968,10 @@ _worldtmp: .PHONY
 .endif	# !defined(NO_CLEAN)
 	@mkdir -p ${WORLDTMP}
 	@touch ${WORLDTMP}/${.TARGET}
-
-.for _dir in \
-    lib lib/casper lib/geom usr legacy/bin legacy/usr
-	mkdir -p ${WORLDTMP}/${_dir}
-.endfor
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.usr.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/legacy/usr >/dev/null
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.include.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/legacy/usr/include >/dev/null
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.usr.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr >/dev/null
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.include.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr/include >/dev/null
-	ln -sf ${.CURDIR}/sys ${WORLDTMP}
-.if ${MK_DEBUG_FILES} != "no"
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.debug.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/legacy/usr/lib >/dev/null
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.debug.dist \
-	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr/lib >/dev/null
-.endif
-.for _mtree in ${LOCAL_MTREE}
-	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/${_mtree} -p ${WORLDTMP} > /dev/null
-.endfor
+# We can't use mtree to create the worldtmp directories since it may not be
+# available on the target system (this happens e.g. when building on non-FreeBSD)
+	cd ${.CURDIR}/tools/build; \
+	    ${MAKE} DIRPRFX=tools/build/ DESTDIR=${WORLDTMP}/legacy installdirs
 _legacy:
 	@echo
 	@echo "--------------------------------------------------------------"
@@ -1003,6 +984,19 @@ _bootstrap-tools:
 	@echo ">>> stage 1.2: bootstrap tools"
 	@echo "--------------------------------------------------------------"
 	${_+_}cd ${.CURDIR}; ${BMAKE} bootstrap-tools
+	mkdir -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr ${WORLDTMP}/lib/casper ${WORLDTMP}/lib/geom
+	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.usr.dist \
+	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr >/dev/null
+	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.include.dist \
+	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr/include >/dev/null
+	ln -sf ${.CURDIR}/sys ${WORLDTMP}
+.if ${MK_DEBUG_FILES} != "no"
+	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/etc/mtree/BSD.debug.dist \
+	    -p ${WORLDTMP}/usr/lib >/dev/null
+.endif
+.for _mtree in ${LOCAL_MTREE}
+	${WORLDTMP_MTREE} -f ${.CURDIR}/${_mtree} -p ${WORLDTMP} > /dev/null
+.endfor
 _cleanobj:
 .if !defined(NO_CLEAN)
 	@echo
diff --git a/tools/build/Makefile b/tools/build/Makefile
index 1b6522b41632..0e6d77716852 100644
--- a/tools/build/Makefile
+++ b/tools/build/Makefile
@@ -59,4 +59,17 @@ SUBDIR=		cross-build
 # Needed to build config (since it uses libnv)
 SYSINCS+=	${SRCTOP}/sys/sys/nv.h ${SRCTOP}/sys/sys/cnv.h
 
+
+# Create all the directories that are needed during the legacy, bootstrap-tools
+# and cross-tools stages. We do this here using mkdir since mtree may not exist
+# yet (this happens if we are crossbuilding from Linux/Mac).
+installdirs:
+.for _dir in bin sbin usr/bin usr/sbin usr/lib usr/include lib/geom lib/casper
+	mkdir -p "${DESTDIR}/${_dir}"
+.endfor
+
+.for _group in ${INCSGROUPS:NINCS}
+	mkdir -p "${DESTDIR}/${${_group}DIR}"
+.endfor
+
 .include <bsd.lib.mk>