diff --git a/zcutil/build.sh b/zcutil/build.sh
index 0000c6201..c10be652f 100755
--- a/zcutil/build.sh
+++ b/zcutil/build.sh
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@ Usage:
 $0 --help
   Show this help message and exit.
 
-$0 [ --enable-lcov ] [ MAKEARGS... ]
+$0 [ --enable-lcov || --disable-tests ] [ MAKEARGS... ]
   Build Zcash and most of its transitive dependencies from
-  source. MAKEARGS are applied to both dependencies and Zcash itself. If
-  --enable-lcov is passed, Zcash is configured to add coverage
+  source. MAKEARGS are applied to both dependencies and Zcash itself.
+
+  If --enable-lcov is passed, Zcash is configured to add coverage
   instrumentation, thus enabling "make cov" to work.
+  If --disable-tests is passed instead, the Zcash tests are not built.
 EOF
     exit 0
 fi
@@ -25,11 +27,16 @@ cd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")/.."
 # If --enable-lcov is the first argument, enable lcov coverage support:
 LCOV_ARG=''
 HARDENING_ARG='--enable-hardening'
+TEST_ARG=''
 if [ "x${1:-}" = 'x--enable-lcov' ]
 then
     LCOV_ARG='--enable-lcov'
     HARDENING_ARG='--disable-hardening'
     shift
+elif [ "x${1:-}" = 'x--disable-tests' ]
+then
+    TEST_ARG='--enable-tests=no'
+    shift
 fi
 
 # BUG: parameterize the platform/host directory:
@@ -37,5 +44,5 @@ PREFIX="$(pwd)/depends/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/"
 
 HOST=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu BUILD=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu make "$@" -C ./depends/ V=1 NO_QT=1
 ./autogen.sh
-./configure --prefix="${PREFIX}" --host=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --build=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --with-gui=no "$HARDENING_ARG" "$LCOV_ARG" CXXFLAGS='-fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -Werror -g'
+./configure --prefix="${PREFIX}" --host=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --build=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --with-gui=no "$HARDENING_ARG" "$LCOV_ARG" "$TEST_ARG" CXXFLAGS='-fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -Werror -g'
 make "$@" V=1