diff --git a/build/tools.go b/build/tools.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1fcdb63851c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/tools.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// +build tools
+
+/*
+Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+// This package imports things required by build scripts, to force `go mod` to see them as dependencies
+package tools
+
+import (
+	_ "github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-gazelle/cmd/gazelle"
+	_ "github.com/bazelbuild/buildtools/buildozer"
+	_ "github.com/cespare/prettybench"
+	_ "github.com/client9/misspell/cmd/misspell"
+	_ "github.com/cloudflare/cfssl/cmd/cfssl"
+	_ "github.com/cloudflare/cfssl/cmd/cfssljson"
+	_ "github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report"
+	_ "github.com/jteeuwen/go-bindata/go-bindata"
+	_ "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/ginkgo"
+	_ "golang.org/x/lint/golint"
+	_ "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/go-to-protobuf"
+	_ "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/go-to-protobuf/protoc-gen-gogo"
+	_ "k8s.io/gengo/examples/deepcopy-gen/generators"
+	_ "k8s.io/gengo/examples/defaulter-gen/generators"
+	_ "k8s.io/gengo/examples/import-boss/generators"
+	_ "k8s.io/gengo/examples/set-gen/generators"
+	_ "k8s.io/kube-openapi/cmd/openapi-gen"
+	_ "k8s.io/repo-infra/kazel"
+)
diff --git a/hack/make-rules/vet.sh b/hack/make-rules/vet.sh
index bdfe8e5af5a..e670c905384 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/vet.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/vet.sh
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ for arg; do
 done
 
 if [[ ${#targets[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
-  # Do not run on third_party directories or generated client code.
-  targets=$(go list -e ./... | egrep -v "/(third_party|vendor|staging|clientset_generated)/")
+  # Do not run on third_party directories or generated client code or build tools.
+  targets=$(go list -e ./... | egrep -v "/(build|third_party|vendor|staging|clientset_generated)/")
 fi
 
 go vet "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" ${targets[@]}