diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index e64d2d105..35ca0c012 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -2239,4 +2239,5 @@
 * addons: better error handling
 * Fix bug where renew certs button did not work
 * filemanager: various enhancements
+* sftp: fix rebuild condition
 
diff --git a/src/apptaskmanager.js b/src/apptaskmanager.js
index 1482daa9e..74eb9e884 100644
--- a/src/apptaskmanager.js
+++ b/src/apptaskmanager.js
@@ -79,14 +79,16 @@ function scheduleTask(appId, taskId, options, callback) {
         delete gActiveTasks[appId];
         locker.unlock(locker.OP_APPTASK); // unlock event will trigger next task
 
-        // post app task hooks
-        services.rebuildService('sftp', error => { if (error) debug('Unable to rebuild sftp:', error); });
         scheduler.resumeJobs(appId);
     });
 }
 
 function startNextTask() {
-    if (gPendingTasks.length === 0) return;
+    if (gPendingTasks.length === 0) {
+        // rebuild sftp when task queue is empty. this minimizes risk of sftp rebuild overlapping with other app tasks
+        services.rebuildService('sftp', error => { if (error) debug('Unable to rebuild sftp:', error); });
+        return;
+    }
 
     assert(Object.keys(gActiveTasks).length < TASK_CONCURRENCY);
 
diff --git a/src/sftp.js b/src/sftp.js
index b1303c4ef..6ca7a4680 100644
--- a/src/sftp.js
+++ b/src/sftp.js
@@ -21,24 +21,11 @@ var apps = require('./apps.js'),
     volumes = require('./volumes.js'),
     _ = require('underscore');
 
-var gRebuildInProgress = false;
 function rebuild(serviceConfig, options, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof serviceConfig, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof options, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    if (gRebuildInProgress) {
-        debug('waiting for other rebuild to finish');
-        return setTimeout(function () { rebuild(serviceConfig, options, callback); }, 5000);
-    }
-
-    gRebuildInProgress = true;
-
-    function done(error) {
-        gRebuildInProgress = false;
-        callback(error);
-    }
-
     debug('rebuilding container');
 
     const force = !!options.force;
@@ -48,7 +35,7 @@ function rebuild(serviceConfig, options, callback) {
     const cloudronToken = hat(8 * 128);
 
     apps.getAll(function (error, result) {
-        if (error) return done(error);
+        if (error) return callback(error);
 
         let dataDirs = [];
         result.forEach(function (app) {
@@ -89,7 +76,7 @@ function rebuild(serviceConfig, options, callback) {
 
                         if (!force && _.isEqual(currentDataDirs, dataDirs)) {
                             debug('Skipping rebuild, no changes');
-                            return done();
+                            return callback();
                         }
                     }
                 }
@@ -119,7 +106,7 @@ function rebuild(serviceConfig, options, callback) {
                     shell.exec.bind(null, 'stopSftp', 'docker stop sftp || true'),
                     shell.exec.bind(null, 'removeSftp', 'docker rm -f sftp || true'),
                     shell.exec.bind(null, 'startSftp', cmd)
-                ], done);
+                ], callback);
             });
         });
     });