diff --git a/man/man1/rdmd.1 b/man/man1/rdmd.1
index d8fe3c71ce..503a3aaff8 100644
--- a/man/man1/rdmd.1
+++ b/man/man1/rdmd.1
@@ -78,6 +78,10 @@ Print dependencies in makefile format to file and continue
 .IP --man
 Open web browser on manual page
 
+.IP --objdir=\fIobj_dir_path\fR
+Specify directory to store compiled object files
+[default = \fItmp_dir_path\fR/objs]
+
 .IP --tmpdir=\fItmp_dir_path\fR
 Specify directory to store cached program and other
 temporaries [default = as per \fIhttp://dlang.org/phobos/std_file.html#.tempDir\fR]
diff --git a/rdmd.d b/rdmd.d
index cc7b80e2a2..57d71c0b48 100755
--- a/rdmd.d
+++ b/rdmd.d
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ int main(string[] args)
     string[] eval;     // set by --eval
     bool makeDepend;
     string makeDepFile;
+    string objDir;
     getopt(argsBeforeProgram,
             std.getopt.config.caseSensitive,
             std.getopt.config.passThrough,
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ int main(string[] args)
             "makedepfile", &makeDepFile,
             "man", { man(); bailout = true; },
             "tmpdir", &userTempDir,
+            "objdir", &objDir,
             "o", &dashOh);
     if (bailout) return 0;
     if (dryRun) chatty = true; // dry-run implies chatty
@@ -233,20 +235,23 @@ int main(string[] args)
     // Compute the object directory and ensure it exists
     immutable workDir = getWorkPath(root, compilerFlags);
     lockWorkPath(workDir); // will be released by the OS on process exit
-    string objDir = buildPath(workDir, "objs");
-    Filesystem.mkdirRecurseIfLive(objDir);
-
-    if (lib)
+    if (!objDir)
     {
-        // When using -lib, the behavior of the DMD -of switch
-        // changes: instead of being relative to the current
-        // directory, it becomes relative to the output directory.
-        // When building libraries, DMD does not generate any object
-        // files; thus, we can override objDir (which is normally a
-        // temporary directory) to be the current directory, so that
-        // the relative -of path becomes correct.
-        objDir = ".";
+        objDir = buildPath(workDir, "objs");
+
+        if (lib)
+        {
+            // When using -lib, the behavior of the DMD -of switch
+            // changes: instead of being relative to the current
+            // directory, it becomes relative to the output directory.
+            // When building libraries, DMD does not generate any object
+            // files; thus, we can override objDir (which is normally a
+            // temporary directory) to be the current directory, so that
+            // the relative -of path becomes correct.
+            objDir = ".";
+        }
     }
+    Filesystem.mkdirRecurseIfLive(objDir);
 
     // Fetch dependencies
     const myDeps = getDependencies(root, workDir, objDir, compilerFlags);
@@ -524,6 +529,8 @@ private int rebuild(string root, string fullExe,
     // run mode because we haven't created any!
     if (!dryRun)
     {
+        // Be sure to only clean up objDir if it is the default one,
+        // under our temporary work directory, and not when it's user-specified.
         if (Filesystem.exists(objDir) && objDir.startsWith(workDir))
         {
             // We swallow the exception because of a potential race: two
diff --git a/rdmd_test.d b/rdmd_test.d
index 460842e41b..6d8917d609 100755
--- a/rdmd_test.d
+++ b/rdmd_test.d
@@ -552,6 +552,19 @@ void runTests(string rdmdApp, string compiler, string model)
         enforce(exists(altLibName));
     }
 
+    // Test --objdir
+    {
+        TmpDir srcDir = "rdmdTestSrc";
+        TmpDir objDir = "rdmdTestObj";
+
+        string srcName = srcDir.buildPath("test.d");
+        std.file.write(srcName, `void main() {}`);
+
+        res = execute(rdmdArgs ~ ["--build-only", "--force", "--objdir=" ~ objDir, srcName]);
+        enforce(res.status == 0, res.output);
+        enforce(exists(objDir.buildPath("test" ~ objExt)));
+    }
+
     /* rdmd --build-only --force -c main.d fails: ./main: No such file or directory: https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16962 */
     {
         TmpDir srcDir = "rdmdTest";