diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e5f3e779..33366174 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ vet:
 # Will only build the back-end
 build: promu
 	@echo ">> building binaries"
-	@$(PROMU) build --prefix $(PREFIX)
+	@$(PROMU) build --prefix $(PREFIX) $(BINARIES)
 
 # Will build both the front-end as well as the back-end
 build-all: assets build
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 100ec3f7..842e4f64 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ $ make build
 $ ./alertmanager -config.file=<your_file>
 ```
 
+You can also build just one of the binaries in this repo by passing a name to the build function:
+```
+$ make build BINARIES=amtool
+```
+
 ## Example
 
 This is an example configuration that should cover most relevant aspects of the new YAML configuration format. The full documentation of the configuration can be found [here](https://prometheus.io/docs/alerting/configuration/).