diff --git a/hack/verify-generated-files-remake.sh b/hack/verify-generated-files-remake.sh
index 6bc1b8135c..b3f57b125d 100755
--- a/hack/verify-generated-files-remake.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-generated-files-remake.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,21 @@ set -o pipefail
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
+kube::util::ensure_clean_working_dir
+
+_tmpdir="$(kube::realpath $(mktemp -d -t verify-generated-files.XXXXXX))"
+kube::util::trap_add "rm -rf ${_tmpdir}" EXIT
+
+_tmp_gopath="${_tmpdir}/go"
+_tmp_kuberoot="${_tmp_gopath}/src/k8s.io/kubernetes"
+mkdir -p "${_tmp_kuberoot}/.."
+cp -a "${KUBE_ROOT}" "${_tmp_kuberoot}/.."
+
+cd "${_tmp_kuberoot}"
+
+# clean out anything from the temp dir that's not checked in
+git clean -ffxd
+
 # $1 = filename pattern as in "zz_generated.$1.go"
 function find_genfiles() {
     find .                         \