diff --git a/bench/CMakeLists.txt b/bench/CMakeLists.txt
index 2f0eb9cbd..17045c31b 100644
--- a/bench/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/bench/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,21 +1,32 @@
 
 function(ADD_BENCH_TARGET TARGET POET_BENCH_LIST RT_FILES OUT_PATH)
-    add_custom_target(${TARGET})
-
     set(bench_install_dir share/poet/${OUT_PATH})
+
+    # create empty list 
+    set(OUT_FILES_LIST "")
+
     foreach(BENCH_FILE ${${POET_BENCH_LIST}})
         get_filename_component(BENCH_NAME ${BENCH_FILE} NAME_WE)
         set(OUT_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${BENCH_NAME}.rds)
 
-        add_custom_command(TARGET ${TARGET}
+        add_custom_command(
+            OUTPUT ${OUT_FILE}
             COMMAND $<TARGET_FILE:poet_init> -o ${OUT_FILE} -s ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${BENCH_FILE}
             COMMENT "Running poet_init on ${BENCH_FILE}"
-            DEPENDS poet_init
+            DEPENDS poet_init ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${BENCH_FILE}
             VERBATIM
+            COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
         )
 
-        install(FILES ${OUT_FILE} DESTINATION ${bench_install_dir})
+        list(APPEND OUT_FILES_LIST ${OUT_FILE})
+
     endforeach(BENCH_FILE ${${POET_BENCH_LIST}})
+        
+    add_custom_target(
+        ${TARGET}
+        DEPENDS ${OUT_FILES_LIST})
+            
+    install(FILES ${OUT_FILES_LIST} DESTINATION ${bench_install_dir})
 
     # install all ADD_FILES to the same location
     install(FILES ${${RT_FILES}} DESTINATION ${bench_install_dir})