diff --git a/bin/kaleidoscope-builder b/bin/kaleidoscope-builder
index 45fa1873..4336bdfa 100755
--- a/bin/kaleidoscope-builder
+++ b/bin/kaleidoscope-builder
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ fi
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
 . "${ROOT}/etc/kaleidoscope-builder.conf"
 
-if [ ! -z "${VERBOSE}" ] && [ "${VERBOSE}" -gt 0 ]; then
+if [ -n "${VERBOSE}" ] && [ "${VERBOSE}" -gt 0 ]; then
     ARDUINO_VERBOSE="-verbose"
 else
     ARDUINO_VERBOSE="-quiet"