diff --git a/build/usr/bin/lxcbuild b/build/usr/bin/lxcbuild
index 437d59e..06b00e1 100755
--- a/build/usr/bin/lxcbuild
+++ b/build/usr/bin/lxcbuild
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ import argparse
 import os
 import sys
 from lxcbuild.app import App
-from lxcbuild.image import BuildType, Image
+from lxcbuild.image import Image
+from lxcbuild.imagebuilder import BuildType
 
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='VM application builder and packager')
 group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
diff --git a/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/image.py b/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/image.py
index d903e63..c07e293 100644
--- a/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/image.py
+++ b/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/image.py
@@ -3,19 +3,12 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-from enum import Enum
 from lxcmgr import lxcmgr
 
-from .imagebuilder import ImageBuilder, ImageExistsError, ImageNotFoundError
+from .imagebuilder import BuildType, ImageBuilder, ImageExistsError, ImageNotFoundError
 from .imagepacker import ImagePacker
 from .packer import PackageExistsError
 
-class BuildType(Enum):
-    NORMAL = 1
-    FORCE = 2
-    SCRATCH = 3
-    METADATA = 4
-
 class Image:
     def __init__(self):
         self.name = None
diff --git a/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/imagebuilder.py b/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/imagebuilder.py
index ba65188..d368adc 100644
--- a/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/imagebuilder.py
+++ b/build/usr/lib/python3.6/lxcbuild/imagebuilder.py
@@ -5,18 +5,23 @@ import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
+from enum import Enum
 from lxcmgr import lxcmgr
 from lxcmgr.paths import LXC_STORAGE_DIR
 from lxcmgr.pkgmgr import PkgMgr
 
-from .image import BuildType
-
 class ImageExistsError(Exception):
     pass
 
 class ImageNotFoundError(Exception):
     pass
 
+class BuildType(Enum):
+    NORMAL = 1
+    FORCE = 2
+    SCRATCH = 3
+    METADATA = 4
+
 class ImageBuilder:
     def __init__(self, image):
         self.image = image
@@ -86,6 +91,9 @@ class ImageBuilder:
         # Set name and first (topmost) layer of the image
         self.image.name = name
         self.image.conf['layers'] = [name]
+        if self.image.build_type == BuildType.METADATA:
+            # Don't check or create any directories if we're building just metadata
+            return
         image_path = self.get_layer_path(name)
         if os.path.exists(image_path):
             if self.image.build_type in (BuildType.FORCE, BuildType.SCRATCH):