diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
index 01fee695745..599bf925da7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
@@ -73,3 +73,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
             args.append('--disable-fortran')
 
         return args
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        # Installation fails in parallel
+        make('install', parallel=False)