diff --git a/scripts/rename_fw.py b/scripts/rename_fw.py
index 37eec6187..17075b913 100644
--- a/scripts/rename_fw.py
+++ b/scripts/rename_fw.py
@@ -18,28 +18,32 @@ def bin_copy(source, target, env):
                 if m and len(m.groups()) > 0:
                     bag[var] = m.group(1)
 
-
     # esp8266 or esp32
     platform = "esp" + env['PIOPLATFORM'].strip("espressif")
 
-    # str(target[0]).split(os.path.sep)[2]
+    # if using the pio build directory, use str(target[0]).split(os.path.sep)[2]
     variant = "EMS-ESP-" + bag.get('app_version').replace(".", "_") + "-" + platform
     
     # create string with location and file names based on variant
     bin_file = "{}firmware{}{}.bin".format(OUTPUT_DIR, os.path.sep, variant)
     gzip_file = "{}firmware{}{}.bin.gz".format(OUTPUT_DIR, os.path.sep, variant)
 
-    # check if new target files exist and remove if necessary
-    if os.path.isfile(bin_file): os.remove(bin_file)
-    if os.path.isfile(gzip_file): os.remove(gzip_file)
+    # check if firmware directory and target subdirectories (esp8266/esp32) exist and create if necessary
+    if not os.path.isdir(OUTPUT_DIR):
+        os.mkdir(OUTPUT_DIR)
+    for d in ['firmware']:
+        if not os.path.isdir("{}{}".format(OUTPUT_DIR, d)):
+            os.mkdir("{}{}".format(OUTPUT_DIR, d))
 
-    # copy firmware.bin to new name
+    # copy firmware.bin to new name and in the build/firmware folder, delete if already exists
+    if os.path.isfile(bin_file): os.remove(bin_file)
     shutil.copy(str(target[0]), bin_file)
 
-    # create a zip'd version
+    # create the gzip'd version
+    if os.path.isfile(gzip_file): os.remove(gzip_file)
     with open(bin_file, "rb") as fp:
-        with gzip.open(gzip_file, "wb", compresslevel = 9) as f:
-            shutil.copyfileobj(fp, f)
+         with gzip.open(gzip_file, "wb", compresslevel = 9) as f:
+             shutil.copyfileobj(fp, f)
 
     print("Built firmwares: "+ bin_file + ", " + gzip_file)