diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build-utils.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build-utils.ts
index 93565b526b72a..a239130e121e9 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build-utils.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ import {
 import { remove as removePageDataFile, fixedPagePath } from "../utils/page-data"
 import { IGatsbyState } from "../redux/types"
 
+const checkFolderIsEmpty = (path: string): boolean =>
+  fs.existsSync(path) && !fs.readdirSync(path).length
+
 export const getChangedPageDataKeys = (
   state: IGatsbyState,
   cachedPageData: Map<string, string>
@@ -55,11 +58,11 @@ const checkAndRemoveEmptyDir = (publicDir: string, pagePath: string): void => {
     `page-data`,
     fixedPagePath(pagePath)
   )
-  const hasFiles = fs.readdirSync(pageHtmlDirectory)
-
-  // if page's html folder is empty also remove matching page-data folder
-  if (!hasFiles.length) {
+  // if page's folder is empty also remove matching page-data folder
+  if (checkFolderIsEmpty(pageHtmlDirectory)) {
     fs.removeSync(pageHtmlDirectory)
+  }
+  if (checkFolderIsEmpty(pageDataDirectory)) {
     fs.removeSync(pageDataDirectory)
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-data.js b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-data.js
index 277975d1d8fd7..374bdae1df472 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-data.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-data.js
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ const read = async ({ publicDir }, pagePath) => {
 
 const remove = async ({ publicDir }, pagePath) => {
   const filePath = getFilePath({ publicDir }, pagePath)
-  return fs.remove(filePath)
+  if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
+    return await fs.remove(filePath)
+  }
+  return Promise.resolve()
 }
 
 const write = async ({ publicDir }, page, result) => {
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-html.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-html.ts
index 10108890fc25f..505a8471caf8b 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-html.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/page-html.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ export const remove = async (
   pagePath: string
 ): Promise<void> => {
   const filePath = getPageHtmlFilePath(publicDir, pagePath)
-
-  return await fs.remove(filePath)
+  if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
+    return await fs.remove(filePath)
+  }
+  return Promise.resolve()
 }