diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/cmake.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/cmake.py
index c166e3ea63b..0c86c6bb643 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/cmake.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/cmake.py
@@ -459,8 +459,16 @@ def cmake(
         """Runs ``cmake`` in the build directory"""
 
         # skip cmake phase if it is an incremental develop build
+        # These are the files that will re-run CMake that are generated from a successful
+        # configure step
+        primary_generator = _extract_primary_generator(self.generator)
+        if primary_generator == "Unix Makefiles":
+            configure_artifact = "Makefile"
+        elif primary_generator == "Ninja":
+            configure_artifact = "ninja.build"
+
         if spec.is_develop and os.path.isfile(
-            os.path.join(self.build_directory, "CMakeCache.txt")
+            os.path.join(self.build_directory, configure_artifact)
         ):
             return