diff --git a/src/book/mod.rs b/src/book/mod.rs
index c8cab192..f464b496 100644
--- a/src/book/mod.rs
+++ b/src/book/mod.rs
@@ -190,9 +190,6 @@ impl MDBook {
             renderer.name().to_string(),
         );
 
-        let name = renderer.name();
-        let build_dir = self.build_dir_for(name);
-
         for preprocessor in &self.preprocessors {
             if preprocessor_should_run(&**preprocessor, renderer, &self.config) {
                 debug!("Running the {} preprocessor.", preprocessor.name());
diff --git a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
index 16c884e1..7a7f0ef6 100644
--- a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
+++ b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
@@ -282,8 +282,10 @@ impl Renderer for HtmlHandlebars {
         let destination = &ctx.destination;
         let book = &ctx.book;
 
-        utils::remove_dir_contents(destination)
-            .chain_err(|| "Unable to remove stale HTML output")?
+        if destination.exists() {
+            utils::fs::remove_dir_content(destination)
+                .chain_err(|| "Unable to remove stale HTML output")?;
+        }
 
         trace!("render");
         let mut handlebars = Handlebars::new();