diff --git a/bin/complement b/bin/complement
index f2ce6971..c0a72fb1 100755
--- a/bin/complement
+++ b/bin/complement
@@ -18,7 +18,12 @@ RESULTS_FILE="$3"
 OCI_IMAGE="complement-conduit:dev"
 
 pushd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" > /dev/null
-nix build .#complement
+# uses nix-output-monitor (nom) if available
+if command -v nom &> /dev/null; then
+    nom build .#complement
+else
+    nix build -L .#complement
+fi
 docker load < result
 popd > /dev/null
 
diff --git a/bin/nix-build-and-cache b/bin/nix-build-and-cache
index 6dcc13b6..2f29bb17 100755
--- a/bin/nix-build-and-cache
+++ b/bin/nix-build-and-cache
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@ set -eo pipefail
 INSTALLABLE="$1"
 
 # Build the installable and forward any other arguments too
-nix build -L "$@"
+# uses nix-output-monitor (nom) if available
+if command -v nom &> /dev/null; then
+    nom build "$@"
+else
+    nix build -L "$@"
+fi
 
 if [ ! -z "$ATTIC_TOKEN" ]; then
     nix run --inputs-from . attic -- \