diff --git a/build/npm/postinstall.js b/build/npm/postinstall.js
index ad14f3082d3..7b156212bec 100644
--- a/build/npm/postinstall.js
+++ b/build/npm/postinstall.js
@@ -4,13 +4,15 @@
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
 const cp = require('child_process');
+const path = require('path');
 const npm = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'npm.cmd' : 'npm';
 
-function npmInstall(location) {
-	const result = cp.spawnSync(npm, ['install'], {
-		cwd: location ,
-		stdio: 'inherit'
-	});
+function npmInstall(location, opts) {
+	opts = opts || {};
+	opts.cwd = location;
+	opts.stdio = 'inherit';
+
+	const result = cp.spawnSync(npm, ['install'], opts);
 
 	if (result.error || result.status !== 0) {
 		process.exit(1);
@@ -43,4 +45,17 @@ const extensions = [
 
 extensions.forEach(extension => npmInstall(`extensions/${extension}`));
 
-npmInstall(`build`); // node modules required for build
\ No newline at end of file
+function npmInstallBuildDependencies() {
+	// make sure we install gulp watch for the system installed
+	// node, since that is the driver of gulp
+	const env = Object.assign({}, process.env);
+
+	delete env['npm_config_disturl'];
+	delete env['npm_config_target'];
+	delete env['npm_config_runtime'];
+
+	npmInstall(path.join(path.dirname(__dirname), 'lib', 'watch'), { env });
+}
+
+npmInstall(`build`); // node modules required for build
+npmInstallBuildDependencies(); // node modules for watching, specific to host node version, not electron
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/npm/preinstall.js b/build/npm/preinstall.js
index 987eeca8565..2bcbfb6e7d0 100644
--- a/build/npm/preinstall.js
+++ b/build/npm/preinstall.js
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
  *  Licensed under the MIT License. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
-const path = require('path');
-const cp = require('child_process');
-
 if (process.env['npm_config_disturl'] !== 'https://atom.io/download/electron') {
 	console.error("You can't use plain npm to install Code's dependencies.");
 	console.error(
@@ -15,18 +12,4 @@ if (process.env['npm_config_disturl'] !== 'https://atom.io/download/electron') {
 	);
 
 	process.exit(1);
-}
-
-// make sure we install gulp watch for the system installed
-// node, since that is the driver of gulp
-const env = Object.assign({}, process.env);
-
-delete env['npm_config_disturl'];
-delete env['npm_config_target'];
-delete env['npm_config_runtime'];
-
-cp.spawnSync('npm', ['install'], {
-	cwd: path.join(path.dirname(__dirname), 'lib', 'watch'),
-	stdio: 'inherit',
-	env
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+}
\ No newline at end of file