diff --git a/tools/buildman/README b/tools/buildman/README
index 332fd5c825aa148539d1cd490e7cc2445b0ce995..4705d2644b8f075da0a83802bbb42a908fde8e0b 100644
--- a/tools/buildman/README
+++ b/tools/buildman/README
@@ -612,7 +612,8 @@ The full build output in this case is available in:
    err:  Output from stderr, if any. Errors and warnings appear here.
 
    log:  Output from stdout. Normally there isn't any since buildman runs
-         in silent mode for now.
+         in silent mode. Use -V to force a verbose build (this passes V=1
+         to 'make')
 
    toolchain: Shows information about the toolchain used for the build.
 
diff --git a/tools/buildman/cmdline.py b/tools/buildman/cmdline.py
index 916ea57157c0ea3d4deccee0ca7a55b9f6a3ea4f..8341ab145cfa1f5eb1776ef1a821cd2ab95e8972 100644
--- a/tools/buildman/cmdline.py
+++ b/tools/buildman/cmdline.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ def ParseArgs():
     parser.add_option('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true',
           default=False, help='Show build results while the build progresses')
     parser.add_option('-V', '--verbose-build', action='store_true',
-          default=False, help='Run make with V=1, showing all output')
+          default=False, help='Run make with V=1, logging all output')
     parser.add_option('-x', '--exclude', dest='exclude',
           type='string', action='append',
           help='Specify a list of boards to exclude, separated by comma')