diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index a194274bd..7d7bef70e 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ PROJECT_OBJECTFILES = ${addprefix $(OBJECTDIR)/,${call oname, $(PROJECT_SOURCEFI
 
 # Provide way to create $(OBJECTDIR) if it has been removed by make clean
 $(OBJECTDIR):
-	mkdir $@
+	$(TRACE_MKDIR)
+	$(Q)mkdir $@
 
 uniq = $(if $1,$(firstword $1) $(call uniq,$(filter-out $(firstword $1),$1)))
 
@@ -241,12 +242,20 @@ ifeq ($(V),1)
   TRACE_LD =
   TRACE_AR =
   TRACE_AS =
+  TRACE_OBJCOPY  =
+  TRACE_OBJDUMP  =
+  TRACE_MKDIR =
+  TRACE_CP =
   Q=
 else
   TRACE_CC = @echo "  CC       " $<
   TRACE_LD = @echo "  LD       " $@
   TRACE_AR = @echo "  AR       " $@
   TRACE_AS = @echo "  AS       " $<
+  TRACE_OBJCOPY  = @echo "  OBJCOPY  " $< "-->" $@
+  TRACE_OBJDUMP  = @echo "  OBJDUMP  " $< "-->" $@
+  TRACE_MKDIR = @echo "  MKDIR    " $@
+  TRACE_CP       = @echo "  CP       " $< "-->" $@
   Q=@
 endif
 
diff --git a/arch/cpu/arm/Makefile.arm b/arch/cpu/arm/Makefile.arm
index 83f9b8a36..e24385f4b 100644
--- a/arch/cpu/arm/Makefile.arm
+++ b/arch/cpu/arm/Makefile.arm
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+### Verbosity control. Use  make V=1 to get verbose builds.
+### Extends what we already have in the top-level Makefile
+ifeq ($(V),1)
+  TRACE_SREC_CAT =
+else
+  TRACE_SREC_CAT = @echo "  SREC_CAT " $< "-->" $@
+endif
+
 CC       = arm-none-eabi-gcc
 CPP      = arm-none-eabi-cpp
 LD       = arm-none-eabi-gcc
@@ -47,18 +55,23 @@ CLEAN += *.elf *.bin *.lst *.hex *.i16hex
 .PRECIOUS: %.elf %.hex %.bin
 
 %.i16hex: %.elf
-	$(OBJCOPY) -O ihex $< $@
+	$(TRACE_OBJCOPY)
+	$(Q)$(OBJCOPY) -O ihex $< $@
 
 %.hex: %.i16hex
-	$(SREC_CAT) $< -intel -o $@ -intel
+	$(TRACE_SREC_CAT)
+	$(Q)$(SREC_CAT) $< -intel -o $@ -intel
 
 %.bin: %.elf
-	$(OBJCOPY) -O binary $(OBJCOPY_FLAGS) $< $@
+	$(TRACE_OBJCOPY)
+	$(Q)$(OBJCOPY) -O binary $(OBJCOPY_FLAGS) $< $@
 
 %.lst: %.elf
-	$(OBJDUMP) $(OBJDUMP_FLAGS) $< > $@
+	$(TRACE_OBJDUMP)
+	$(Q)$(OBJDUMP) $(OBJDUMP_FLAGS) $< > $@
 
 ### We don't really need the .hex and .bin for the .$(TARGET) but let's make
 ### sure they get built
 %.$(TARGET): %.elf %.hex %.bin
-	cp $< $@
+	$(TRACE_CP)
+	$(Q)cp $< $@