diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f245765cfe..1b92f40eab 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -82,11 +82,16 @@ git:
   # we want to do this ourselves
   submodules: false
 
-
-before_script:
+# Common first phase for all steps
+before_install:
   - if command -v ccache ; then ccache --zero-stats ; fi
+
+# Configure step - may be overridden
+before_script:
   - mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR} && cd ${BUILD_DIR}
   - ${SRC_DIR}/configure ${BASE_CONFIG} ${CONFIG} || { cat config.log && exit 1; }
+
+# Main build & test - rarely overridden - controlled by TEST_CMD
 script:
   - BUILD_RC=0 && make -j3 || BUILD_RC=$?
   - if [ "$BUILD_RC" -eq 0 ] ; then travis_retry ${TEST_CMD} ; else $(exit $BUILD_RC); fi
@@ -268,7 +273,6 @@ matrix:
       before_script:
         - brew link --overwrite python
         - export PATH="/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-        - if command -v ccache ; then ccache --zero-stats ; fi
         - mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR} && cd ${BUILD_DIR}
         - ${SRC_DIR}/configure ${BASE_CONFIG} ${CONFIG} || { cat config.log && exit 1; }
 
@@ -499,9 +503,6 @@ matrix:
         - TEST_CMD="make install -j3"
         - QEMU_VERSION="${TRAVIS_TAG:1}"
         - CACHE_NAME="${TRAVIS_BRANCH}-linux-gcc-default"
-      before_script:
-        - command -v ccache && ccache --zero-stats
-        - mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR} && cd ${BUILD_DIR}
       script:
         - make -C ${SRC_DIR} qemu-${QEMU_VERSION}.tar.bz2
         - ls -l ${SRC_DIR}/qemu-${QEMU_VERSION}.tar.bz2