diff --git a/src/main/groovy/org/codehaus/mojo/spotbugs/SpotBugsMojo.groovy b/src/main/groovy/org/codehaus/mojo/spotbugs/SpotBugsMojo.groovy
index 20bc5aff7..1358ce5c7 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/org/codehaus/mojo/spotbugs/SpotBugsMojo.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/org/codehaus/mojo/spotbugs/SpotBugsMojo.groovy
@@ -1098,7 +1098,7 @@ class SpotBugsMojo extends AbstractMavenReport implements SpotBugsPluginsTrait {
 
         log.debug("****** SpotBugsMojo executeSpotbugs *******")
 
-        File htmlTempFile = new File("${project.build.directory}/spotbugs.html")
+        File htmlTempFile = new File("${outputDirectory}/spotbugs.html")
         if (htmlOutput) {
             forceFileCreation(htmlTempFile)
         }