diff --git a/tools/lib/provision.py b/tools/lib/provision.py
index ae6a088b3a..d37f325c9a 100755
--- a/tools/lib/provision.py
+++ b/tools/lib/provision.py
@@ -249,8 +249,7 @@ def main(options):
         # issue with the symlinks being improperly owned by root.
         if os.path.islink("node_modules"):
             run(["sudo", "rm", "-f", "node_modules"])
-        if not os.path.isdir(NODE_MODULES_CACHE_PATH):
-            run(["sudo", "mkdir", NODE_MODULES_CACHE_PATH])
+        run(["sudo", "mkdir", "-p", NODE_MODULES_CACHE_PATH])
         run(["sudo", "chown", "%s:%s" % (user_id, user_id), NODE_MODULES_CACHE_PATH])
         setup_node_modules(prefer_offline=True)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
diff --git a/tools/setup/generate_zulip_bots_static_files b/tools/setup/generate_zulip_bots_static_files
index 5c3a2b2624..f5ff16bf8d 100755
--- a/tools/setup/generate_zulip_bots_static_files
+++ b/tools/setup/generate_zulip_bots_static_files
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ from zulip_bots.lib import get_bots_directory_path
 
 
 bots_dir = os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, 'generated/bots')
-if not os.path.isdir(bots_dir):
-    os.makedirs(bots_dir)
+os.makedirs(bots_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
 def copyfiles(paths):
     # type: (List[Text]) -> None
@@ -24,8 +23,7 @@ def copyfiles(paths):
         bot_name = os.path.basename(os.path.dirname(src_path))
 
         bot_dir = os.path.join(bots_dir, bot_name)
-        if not os.path.isdir(bot_dir):
-            os.mkdir(bot_dir)
+        os.makedirs(bot_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
         dst_path = os.path.join(bot_dir, os.path.basename(src_path))
         if not os.path.isfile(dst_path):
diff --git a/zerver/lib/upload.py b/zerver/lib/upload.py
index b08d5921e3..37fde85d71 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/upload.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/upload.py
@@ -427,8 +427,7 @@ class S3UploadBackend(ZulipUploadBackend):
 def mkdirs(path):
     # type: (Text) -> None
     dirname = os.path.dirname(path)
-    if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
-        os.makedirs(dirname)
+    os.makedirs(dirname, exist_ok=True)
 
 def write_local_file(type, path, file_data):
     # type: (Text, Text, bytes) -> None