diff --git a/src/builder-cache.c b/src/builder-cache.c
index 3c96c7f9..3dcb48f3 100644
--- a/src/builder-cache.c
+++ b/src/builder-cache.c
@@ -1210,6 +1210,7 @@ builder_cache_disable_lookups (BuilderCache *self)
 
 gboolean
 builder_gc (BuilderCache *self,
+            gboolean      prune_unused_stages,
             GError      **error)
 {
   gint objects_total;
@@ -1218,20 +1219,23 @@ builder_gc (BuilderCache *self,
   GHashTableIter iter;
   gpointer key, value;
 
-  g_hash_table_iter_init (&iter, self->unused_stages);
-  while (g_hash_table_iter_next (&iter, &key, &value))
+  if (prune_unused_stages)
     {
-      const char *unused_stage = (const char *) key;
-      g_autofree char *unused_ref = get_ref (self, unused_stage);
+      g_hash_table_iter_init (&iter, self->unused_stages);
+      while (g_hash_table_iter_next (&iter, &key, &value))
+        {
+          const char *unused_stage = (const char *) key;
+          g_autofree char *unused_ref = get_ref (self, unused_stage);
 
-      g_debug ("Removing unused ref %s", unused_ref);
+          g_debug ("Removing unused ref %s", unused_ref);
 
-      if (!ostree_repo_set_ref_immediate (self->repo,
-                                          NULL,
-                                          unused_ref,
-                                          NULL,
-                                          NULL, error))
-        return FALSE;
+          if (!ostree_repo_set_ref_immediate (self->repo,
+                                              NULL,
+                                              unused_ref,
+                                              NULL,
+                                              NULL, error))
+            return FALSE;
+        }
     }
 
   g_print ("Pruning cache\n");
diff --git a/src/builder-cache.h b/src/builder-cache.h
index e7edce9f..06f12963 100644
--- a/src/builder-cache.h
+++ b/src/builder-cache.h
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ GPtrArray   *builder_cache_get_changes (BuilderCache *self,
 GPtrArray   *builder_cache_get_all_changes (BuilderCache *self,
                                             GError      **error);
 gboolean      builder_gc (BuilderCache *self,
+                          gboolean      prune_unused_stages,
                           GError      **error);
 
 void builder_cache_checksum_str (BuilderCache *self,
diff --git a/src/builder-main.c b/src/builder-main.c
index 7a08d2eb..22a3de77 100644
--- a/src/builder-main.c
+++ b/src/builder-main.c
@@ -332,6 +332,7 @@ main (int    argc,
   gboolean is_run = FALSE;
   gboolean is_show_deps = FALSE;
   gboolean app_dir_is_empty = FALSE;
+  gboolean prune_unused_stages = FALSE;
   g_autoptr(FlatpakContext) arg_context = NULL;
   g_autoptr(FlatpakTempDir) cleanup_manifest_dir = NULL;
   g_autofree char *manifest_basename = NULL;
@@ -1064,7 +1065,10 @@ main (int    argc,
         }
     }
 
-  if (!builder_gc (cache, &error))
+  if (!opt_finish_only && !opt_export_only)
+    prune_unused_stages = TRUE;
+
+  if (!builder_gc (cache, prune_unused_stages, &error))
     {
       g_warning ("Failed to GC build cache: %s", error->message);
       g_clear_error (&error);