diff --git a/src/compositor/clutter-plugins/Makefile.am b/src/compositor/clutter-plugins/Makefile.am
index f064eaca1..00bac8d4f 100644
--- a/src/compositor/clutter-plugins/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/compositor/clutter-plugins/Makefile.am
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ pkglib_LTLIBRARIES = simple.la
 # (There is no way to stop libtool generating static libs locally, and we
 # cannot do this globally because of libmetacity-private.so).
 install-exec-hook:
-	rm $(pkglibdir)/*.a
-	rm $(pkglibdir)/*.la
+	rm $(DESTDIR)$(pkglibdir)/*.a
+	rm $(DESTDIR)$(pkglibdir)/*.la
 
 endif