diff --git a/.github/ci-test-each-commit-exec.py b/.github/ci-test-each-commit-exec.py
index b81241bc20a..fcd3bbdb546 100755
--- a/.github/ci-test-each-commit-exec.py
+++ b/.github/ci-test-each-commit-exec.py
@@ -10,10 +10,11 @@ import shlex
 
 def run(cmd, **kwargs):
     print("+ " + shlex.join(cmd), flush=True)
+    kwargs.setdefault("check", True)
     try:
-        return subprocess.run(cmd, check=True, **kwargs)
+        return subprocess.run(cmd, **kwargs)
     except Exception as e:
-        sys.exit(e)
+        sys.exit(str(e))
 
 
 def main():
@@ -42,7 +43,11 @@ def main():
         # Tolerate unused member functions in intermediate commits in a pull request
         "-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-Wno-error=unused-member-function",
     ])
-    run(["cmake", "--build", build_dir, "-j", str(num_procs)])
+
+    if run(["cmake", "--build", build_dir, "-j", str(num_procs)], check=False).returncode != 0:
+        print("Build failure. Verbose build follows.")
+        run(["cmake", "--build", build_dir, "-j1", "--verbose"])
+
     run([
         "ctest",
         "--output-on-failure",
diff --git a/ci/test/02_run_container.py b/ci/test/02_run_container.py
index 921c5d14705..dce3730a65a 100755
--- a/ci/test/02_run_container.py
+++ b/ci/test/02_run_container.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def run(cmd, **kwargs):
     try:
         return subprocess.run(cmd, **kwargs)
     except Exception as e:
-        sys.exit(e)
+        sys.exit(str(e))
 
 
 def main():