diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9d6a114391..6d68b66a1c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 language: node_js
 node_js:
     - node # Latest stable version of nodejs.
+install:
+    - npm install
+    - (cd node_modules/matrix-js-sdk && npm install)
diff --git a/jenkins.sh b/jenkins.sh
index b318b586e2..3b4e31fd7f 100755
--- a/jenkins.sh
+++ b/jenkins.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ set -x
 # install the other dependencies
 npm install
 
+# we may be using a dev branch of js-sdk in which case we need to build it
+(cd node_modules/matrix-js-sdk && npm install)
+
 # run the mocha tests
 npm run test