diff --git a/lib/clean.js b/lib/clean.js
index dbfa4dbb99..68c5508be7 100644
--- a/lib/clean.js
+++ b/lib/clean.js
@@ -2,14 +2,18 @@
 
 const rm = require('rimraf')
 const log = require('npmlog')
+const util = require('util')
 
-function clean (gyp, argv, callback) {
+async function clean (gyp, argv) {
   // Remove the 'build' dir
-  var buildDir = 'build'
+  const buildDir = 'build'
 
   log.verbose('clean', 'removing "%s" directory', buildDir)
-  rm(buildDir, callback)
+  return util.promisify(rm)(buildDir)
 }
 
-module.exports = clean
+module.exports = function (gyp, argv, callback) {
+  // no response expected
+  clean(gyp, argv).then(() => callback(), callback)
+}
 module.exports.usage = 'Removes any generated build files and the "out" dir'