diff --git a/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile b/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
index d6177aaac32..0a5e4cd532d 100644
--- a/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
+++ b/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
@@ -20,9 +20,13 @@
 REGISTRY?=staging-k8s.gcr.io
 ARCH?=amd64
 OUT_DIR?=_output
-GINKGO_BIN?=$(shell pwd)/../../../$(OUT_DIR)/dockerized/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/ginkgo
-KUBECTL_BIN?=$(shell pwd)/../../../$(OUT_DIR)/dockerized/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/kubectl
-E2E_TEST_BIN?=$(shell pwd)/../../../$(OUT_DIR)/dockerized/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/e2e.test
+
+OUTPUT_PATH=$(shell pwd)/../../../$(OUT_DIR)
+BINARY_PATH=$(shell test -d $(OUTPUT_PATH)/dockerized && echo $(OUTPUT_PATH)/dockerized || echo $(OUTPUT_PATH)/local)
+
+GINKGO_BIN?=$(BINARY_PATH)/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/ginkgo
+KUBECTL_BIN?=$(BINARY_PATH)/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/kubectl
+E2E_TEST_BIN?=$(BINARY_PATH)/bin/linux/$(ARCH)/e2e.test
 CLUSTER_DIR?=$(shell pwd)/../../../cluster/
 
 BASEIMAGE=k8s.gcr.io/debian-hyperkube-base-$(ARCH):0.12.1
diff --git a/cluster/images/conformance/README.md b/cluster/images/conformance/README.md
index 3f8d5954bc8..4e1d7dcff42 100644
--- a/cluster/images/conformance/README.md
+++ b/cluster/images/conformance/README.md
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 #### How to release by hand
 
 ```console
-# First, build the binaries
-$ build/run.sh make cross
+# First, build the binaries by running make from the root directory
+$ make WHAT="test/e2e/e2e.test vendor/github.com/onsi/ginkgo/ginkgo cmd/kubectl"
 
 # Build for linux/amd64 (default)
 # export REGISTRY=$HOST/$ORG to switch from staging-k8s.gcr.io
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   containers:
   - name: conformance-container
-    image: gcr.io/heptio-images/kube-conformance:latest
     image: staging-k8s.gcr.io/conformance-amd64:v1.12.1
     imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
     env: