diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c2b6e89b..c4945f83 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ Now, `cmake --version` should be at version 3.20.0 or newer.
 
 Or go:
 ```bash
-# optional:                                    --user
-python3 -m pip install -U pip setuptools wheel
+python3 -m pip install -U pip
+python3 -m pip install -U build packaging setuptools wheel
 python3 -m pip install -U cmake
 ```
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d7096f82..f53522b5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 requires = [
     "setuptools>=42",
     "wheel",
-    "cmake>=3.20.0,<4.0.0"
+    "cmake>=3.20.0,<4.0.0",
+    "packaging>=23",
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 964c83a5..b41451ed 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,9 +5,6 @@
 # Authors: Axel Huebl
 # License: BSD-3-Clause-LBNL
 #
-from distutils.command.build import build
-from distutils.command.clean import clean
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 import os
 import platform
 import re
@@ -16,6 +13,7 @@
 import sys
 
 from setuptools import Extension, setup
+from setuptools.command.build import build
 from setuptools.command.build_ext import build_ext
 
 
@@ -33,10 +31,8 @@ def run(self):
         #   by default, this stays around. We want to make sure generated
         #   files like amrex_*d_pybind.*.(so|pyd) are always only the
         #   ones we want to package and not ones from an earlier wheel's stage
-        c = clean(self.distribution)
-        c.all = True
-        c.finalize_options()
-        c.run()
+        if os.path.exists(self.build_base):
+            shutil.rmtree(self.build_base)
 
         # call superclass
         build.run(self)
@@ -54,6 +50,8 @@ def __init__(self, name, sourcedir=""):
 
 class CMakeBuild(build_ext):
     def run(self):
+        from packaging.version import parse
+
         try:
             out = subprocess.check_output(["cmake", "--version"])
         except OSError:
@@ -63,10 +61,8 @@ def run(self):
                 + ", ".join(e.name for e in self.extensions)
             )
 
-        cmake_version = LooseVersion(
-            re.search(r"version\s*([\d.]+)", out.decode()).group(1)
-        )
-        if cmake_version < "3.20.0":
+        cmake_version = parse(re.search(r"version\s*([\d.]+)", out.decode()).group(1))
+        if cmake_version < parse("3.20.0"):
             raise RuntimeError("CMake >= 3.20.0 is required")
 
         for ext in self.extensions: