diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/install.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/install.py
index f79c96487..bfa74f011 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/commands/install.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/install.py
@@ -316,37 +316,50 @@ class InstallCommand(RequirementCommand):
                         modifying_pip=requirement_set.has_requirement("pip")
                     )
 
-                    # If caching is disabled don't try to build wheels.
-                    if options.cache_dir:
-                        # build wheels before install.
-                        wb = WheelBuilder(
-                            finder, preparer, wheel_cache,
-                            build_options=[], global_options=[],
-                        )
-                        # Ignore the result: a failed wheel will be
-                        # installed from the sdist/vcs whatever.
+                    # Consider legacy and PEP517-using requirements separately
+                    legacy_requirements = []
+                    pep517_requirements = []
+                    for req in requirement_set.requirements.values():
+                        if req.use_pep517:
+                            pep517_requirements.append(req)
+                        else:
+                            legacy_requirements.append(req)
+
+                    # We don't build wheels for legacy requirements if we
+                    # don't have wheel installed or we don't have a cache dir
+                    try:
+                        import wheel  # noqa: F401
+                        build_legacy = bool(options.cache_dir)
+                    except ImportError:
+                        build_legacy = False
+
+                    wb = WheelBuilder(
+                        finder, preparer, wheel_cache,
+                        build_options=[], global_options=[],
+                    )
+
+                    # Always build PEP 517 requirements
+                    build_failures = wb.build(
+                        pep517_requirements,
+                        session=session, autobuilding=True
+                    )
+
+                    if build_legacy:
+                        # We don't care about failures building legacy
+                        # requirements, as we'll fall through to a direct
+                        # install for those.
                         wb.build(
-                            requirement_set.requirements.values(),
+                            pep517_requirements,
                             session=session, autobuilding=True
                         )
 
                     # If we're using PEP 517, we cannot do a direct install
                     # so we fail here.
-                    # TODO: Technically, if it's a setuptools-based project
-                    # we could fall back to setup.py install even if we've
-                    # been assuming PEP 517 to this point, but that would be
-                    # complicated to achieve, as none of the legacy setup has
-                    # been done. Better to get the user to specify
-                    # --no-use-pep517.
-                    failed_builds = [
-                        r for r in requirement_set.requirements.values()
-                        if r.use_pep517 and not r.is_wheel
-                    ]
- 
-                    if failed_builds:
+                    if build_failures:
                         raise InstallationError(
-                            "Could not build wheels for {}".format(
-                                failed_builds))
+                            "Could not build wheels for {} which use" +
+                            " PEP 517 and cannot be installed directly".format(
+                                ", ".join(r.name for r in build_failures)))
 
                     to_install = resolver.get_installation_order(
                         requirement_set
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/wheel.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/wheel.py
index 9c1f1497f..6dd07a785 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/commands/wheel.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/wheel.py
@@ -167,10 +167,10 @@ class WheelCommand(RequirementCommand):
                         global_options=options.global_options or [],
                         no_clean=options.no_clean,
                     )
-                    wheels_built_successfully = wb.build(
+                    build_failures = wb.build(
                         requirement_set.requirements.values(), session=session,
                     )
-                    if not wheels_built_successfully:
+                    if len(build_failures) != 0:
                         raise CommandError(
                             "Failed to build one or more wheels"
                         )
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py b/src/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py
index 7033e96eb..9b6c86b77 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py
@@ -541,7 +541,6 @@ class InstallRequirement(object):
                 show_stdout=False,
                 command_desc='python setup.py egg_info')
 
-
     @property
     def egg_info_path(self):
         if self._egg_info_path is None:
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py b/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
index 3997e06d8..12f05cf7b 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
@@ -766,6 +766,8 @@ class WheelBuilder(object):
         from pip._internal import index
         from pip._internal.models.link import Link
 
+        # TODO: This check fails if --no-cache-dir is set. And yet we
+        #       might be able to build into the ephemeral cache, surely?
         building_is_possible = self._wheel_dir or (
             autobuilding and self.wheel_cache.cache_dir
         )
@@ -806,7 +808,7 @@ class WheelBuilder(object):
                 buildset.append((req, ephem_cache))
 
         if not buildset:
-            return True
+            return []
 
         # Build the wheels.
         logger.info(
@@ -879,4 +881,4 @@ class WheelBuilder(object):
                 ' '.join([req.name for req in build_failure]),
             )
         # Return True if all builds were successful
-        return len(build_failure) == 0
+        return build_failure