diff --git a/packages/jsii-pacmak/bin/jsii-pacmak.ts b/packages/jsii-pacmak/bin/jsii-pacmak.ts
index ac65244b45..f433867c9e 100644
--- a/packages/jsii-pacmak/bin/jsii-pacmak.ts
+++ b/packages/jsii-pacmak/bin/jsii-pacmak.ts
@@ -165,8 +165,7 @@ import { VERSION_DESC } from '../lib/version';
       desc: 'Whether jsii assemblies should be validated. This can be expensive and is skipped by default.',
       default: false,
     })
-    .version(VERSION_DESC)
-    .strict().argv;
+    .version(VERSION_DESC).argv;
 
   configureLogging({ level: argv.verbose !== undefined ? argv.verbose : 0 });
 
diff --git a/packages/jsii-pacmak/test/build-test.sh b/packages/jsii-pacmak/test/build-test.sh
index 56da0b55b6..b8e09d5595 100755
--- a/packages/jsii-pacmak/test/build-test.sh
+++ b/packages/jsii-pacmak/test/build-test.sh
@@ -85,4 +85,9 @@ ${pacmak} ${OPTS} -v --no-parallel $packagedirs
 # Test custom pack command
 clean_dists
 echo "Testing yarn custom pack command."
-${pacmak} ${OPTS} -v --pack-command='yarn pack -f custom.tgz -s && echo custom.tgz' ${PWD}/../../@scope/jsii-calc-base-of-base
\ No newline at end of file
+${pacmak} ${OPTS} -v --pack-command='yarn pack -f custom.tgz -s && echo custom.tgz' ${PWD}/../../@scope/jsii-calc-base-of-base
+
+# Test custom mvn settings command
+clean_dists
+echo "Testing custom mvn parameters."
+${pacmak} ${OPTS} -v --mvn-builder=singlethreaded --mvn-threads=4 $packagedirs