diff --git a/.github/workflows/sims.yml b/.github/workflows/sims.yml
index 64b750631..1bcaca14a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sims.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sims.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'skip-sims')"
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - run: |
+          make build
+  install-runsim:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: build
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - name: install runsim
@@ -24,7 +32,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-sim-nondeterminism:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: Build
+    needs: [build, install-runsim]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -38,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-sim-import-export:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: Build
+    needs: [build, install-runsim]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -52,7 +60,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-sim-after-import:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: Build
+    needs: [build, install-runsim]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -66,7 +74,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-sim-multi-seed-short:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: Build
+    needs: [build, install-runsim]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index c35caa395..e0d07115b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2-beta
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: build
+        run: |
+          make build
       - name: test & coverage report creation
         run: |
           go test ./... -mod=readonly -timeout 12m -race -coverprofile=coverage.txt -covermode=atomic -tags='ledger test_ledger_mock'