diff --git a/news/12577.bugfix.rst b/news/12577.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bb359a32ff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/12577.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Ensure `-vv` gets passed to any ``pip install`` build environment subprocesses.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/build_env.py b/src/pip/_internal/build_env.py
index 4f704a3547d..838de86474f 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/build_env.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/build_env.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from pip._internal.cli.spinners import open_spinner
 from pip._internal.locations import get_platlib, get_purelib, get_scheme
 from pip._internal.metadata import get_default_environment, get_environment
+from pip._internal.utils.logging import VERBOSE
 from pip._internal.utils.subprocess import call_subprocess
 from pip._internal.utils.temp_dir import TempDirectory, tempdir_kinds
 
@@ -242,6 +243,8 @@ def _install_requirements(
             "--no-warn-script-location",
         ]
         if logger.getEffectiveLevel() <= logging.DEBUG:
+            args.append("-vv")
+        elif logger.getEffectiveLevel() <= VERBOSE:
             args.append("-v")
         for format_control in ("no_binary", "only_binary"):
             formats = getattr(finder.format_control, format_control)