diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b23103fdff1..d6efaa8cdd8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ add_feature_info("Build tests" ${WITH_TESTS} "")
 option(WITH_DEBUG_CMAKE "Enabled CMake project debugging functionality (e.g. source file disk checking)" OFF)
 option(BUILD_WITH_PCH "Build with precompiled headers" ON)
 
+# merge binary directories of sub projects into top level
+set(QTC_MERGE_BINARY_DIR ON)
+
 set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_CURRENT_DIR ON)
 
 # Set up Qt stuff:
diff --git a/src/tools/3rdparty/cplusplus-keywordgen/CMakeLists.txt b/src/tools/3rdparty/cplusplus-keywordgen/CMakeLists.txt
index 0ab12f5bf21..d1e10e73448 100644
--- a/src/tools/3rdparty/cplusplus-keywordgen/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/tools/3rdparty/cplusplus-keywordgen/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 add_qtc_executable(cplusplus-keywordgen
   DEPENDS CPlusPlus Utils
   SOURCES cplusplus-keywordgen.cpp
+  PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )
 
diff --git a/tests/manual/widgets/crumblepath/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/manual/widgets/crumblepath/CMakeLists.txt
index 9a4f51f95a2..1d781c301e5 100644
--- a/tests/manual/widgets/crumblepath/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/manual/widgets/crumblepath/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ add_qtc_executable(tst_manual_widgets_crumblepath
     tst_manual_widgets_crumblepath.cpp
     ../common/themeselector.cpp ../common/themeselector.h
     ../common/themes.qrc
+  PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )
diff --git a/tests/manual/widgets/infolabel/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/manual/widgets/infolabel/CMakeLists.txt
index dad97b6c659..ac0b94e613b 100644
--- a/tests/manual/widgets/infolabel/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/manual/widgets/infolabel/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ add_qtc_executable(tst_manual_widgets_infolabel
     tst_manual_widgets_infolabel.cpp
     ../common/themeselector.cpp ../common/themeselector.h
     ../common/themes.qrc
+  PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )
diff --git a/tests/manual/widgets/manhattanstyle/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/manual/widgets/manhattanstyle/CMakeLists.txt
index 0f7565f7d7d..b2388d00071 100644
--- a/tests/manual/widgets/manhattanstyle/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/manual/widgets/manhattanstyle/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ add_qtc_executable(tst_manual_widgets_manhattanstyle
     tst_manual_widgets_manhattanstyle.cpp
     ../common/themeselector.cpp ../common/themeselector.h
     ../common/themes.qrc
+  PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )
diff --git a/tests/unit/echoserver/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/unit/echoserver/CMakeLists.txt
index ce3065be8b4..1be94e375d0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/echoserver/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/unit/echoserver/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,4 +5,5 @@ add_qtc_executable(echo
     echoclangcodemodelserver.cpp echoclangcodemodelserver.h
     echoserverprocessmain.cpp
   SKIP_INSTALL
+  PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )