diff --git a/colcon_cmake/task/cmake/build.py b/colcon_cmake/task/cmake/build.py
index 17149e5..3fa222f 100644
--- a/colcon_cmake/task/cmake/build.py
+++ b/colcon_cmake/task/cmake/build.py
@@ -64,6 +64,12 @@ def add_arguments(self, *, parser):  # noqa: D102
             '--cmake-force-configure',
             action='store_true',
             help='Force CMake configure step')
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--cmake-build-args", metavar='*', type=str.lstrip,
+            nargs='*',
+            help='Pass arguments to cmake --build. '
+            'Arguments matching other options must be prefixed by a space,\n'
+            'e.g. --cmake-build-args " --parallel" 4')
 
     async def build(  # noqa: D102
         self, *, additional_hooks=None, skip_hook_creation=False,
@@ -237,6 +243,8 @@ async def _build(self, args, env, *, additional_targets=None):
                 cmd += ['--clean-first']
             if multi_configuration_generator:
                 cmd += ['--config', self._get_configuration(args)]
+            if args.cmake_build_args:
+                cmd += args.cmake_build_args
             else:
                 job_args = self._get_make_arguments(env)
                 if job_args: