diff --git a/build-deb.sh b/build-deb.sh
index df3a46386..42a4ae989 100755
--- a/build-deb.sh
+++ b/build-deb.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+if [ ! -d ./app/Lib/cakephp/app ]
+then
+    echo "CakePHP has not been pulled."
+    echo "Make sure all submodules are intialized and updated. Please run:"
+    echo "git submodule init"
+    echo "git submodule update"
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 dpkg-buildpackage -b -rfakeroot -us -uc