diff --git a/conda_build/cli/main_build.py b/conda_build/cli/main_build.py
index fd8db83144..fc0beca311 100644
--- a/conda_build/cli/main_build.py
+++ b/conda_build/cli/main_build.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 from conda_build.config import Config
 
 on_win = (sys.platform == 'win32')
-logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
 
 def parse_args(args):
@@ -216,6 +215,10 @@ def execute(args):
         action = check_action
 
     if action:
+        if action == output_action:
+            logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR)
+        else:
+            logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
         for recipe in args.recipe:
             recipe_dir, need_cleanup = get_recipe_abspath(recipe)
 
diff --git a/conda_build/cli/main_render.py b/conda_build/cli/main_render.py
index d021acd9c1..8887e88078 100644
--- a/conda_build/cli/main_render.py
+++ b/conda_build/cli/main_render.py
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 
 on_win = (sys.platform == 'win32')
 
-logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
-
 
 def get_render_parser():
     p = ArgumentParser(
@@ -131,9 +129,11 @@ def execute(args):
 
     metadata, _, _ = render_recipe(args.recipe, no_download_source=args.no_source, config=config)
     if args.output:
+        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR)
         silence_loggers(show_warnings_and_errors=False)
         print(bldpkg_path(metadata, config=config))
     else:
+        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
         print(output_yaml(metadata, args.file))
 
 
diff --git a/conda_build/environ.py b/conda_build/environ.py
index 9fae248f63..7217467e69 100644
--- a/conda_build/environ.py
+++ b/conda_build/environ.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 from conda_build.features import feature_list
 from conda_build.utils import prepend_bin_path
 
+log = logging.getLogger(__file__)
+
 
 def get_perl_ver(config):
     return str(config.CONDA_PERL)
diff --git a/conda_build/utils.py b/conda_build/utils.py
index 9eeeb579ca..e64fdf8412 100644
--- a/conda_build/utils.py
+++ b/conda_build/utils.py
@@ -343,6 +343,8 @@ def silence_loggers(show_warnings_and_errors=True):
         log_level = logging.WARN
     else:
         log_level = logging.CRITICAL + 1
+    logging.disable(log_level)
+    logging.getLogger(os.path.dirname(__file__)).setLevel(log_level)
     # This squelches a ton of conda output that is not hugely relevant
     logging.getLogger("conda").setLevel(log_level)
     logging.getLogger("binstar").setLevel(log_level)
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 4a82213c91..bf2a3ed633 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ def test_render_output_build_path(testing_workdir, capfd):
     test_path = "conda-build-test-python-run-1.0-py{}{}_0.tar.bz2".format(
                                       sys.version_info.major, sys.version_info.minor)
     output, error = capfd.readouterr()
+    assert error == ""
     assert os.path.basename(output.rstrip()) == test_path, error
 
 
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ def test_build_output_build_path(testing_workdir, test_config, capfd):
                                   "conda-build-test-python-run-1.0-py{}{}_0.tar.bz2".format(
                                       sys.version_info.major, sys.version_info.minor))
     output, error = capfd.readouterr()
+    assert error == ""
     assert output.rstrip() == test_path, error