diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 809c229..6c5e42b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,11 +23,33 @@ enable_testing()
 set(BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH OFF CACHE PATH "specifies the (relative) path to the c++utilities sources for building it together with ${META_PROJECT_NAME}")
 if(NOT BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH)
     message(STATUS "Using system c++utilities")
-elseif(IS_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}" OR IS_DIRECTORY "${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}")
-    add_subdirectory("${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}" c++utilities)
-    list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CPP_UTILITIES_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules)
 else()
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "Specified directory for c++utilities sources \"${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}\" does not exist.")
+    # check whether bundled c++utilities actually exists
+    if(IS_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}")
+        # treat the specified path as relative to the current source dir
+        set(c++utilities_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}")
+    elseif(IS_DIRECTORY "${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}")
+        # treat the specified path as absolute
+        set(c++utilities_DIR "${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}")
+    else()
+        # consider the specified path invalid
+        set(c++utilities_DIR "")
+    endif()
+
+    if(c++utilities_DIR)
+        add_subdirectory("${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}" c++utilities)
+        list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CPP_UTILITIES_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules")
+    else()
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Specified directory for c++utilities sources \"${BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH}\" does not exist.")
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+# find c++utilities
+find_package(c++utilities 4.12.0 REQUIRED)
+
+# use the source directory of c++utilities for includes (rather than the location where headers are going to be installed)
+if(BUNDLED_CPP_UTILITIES_PATH)
+    set(CPP_UTILITIES_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CPP_UTILITIES_SOURCE_DIR}/..")
 endif()
 
 # add header-only library containing JsonSerializable and helper for using RapidJSON
diff --git a/generator/CMakeLists.txt b/generator/CMakeLists.txt
index 34edc25..d6d8a7e 100644
--- a/generator/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/generator/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -34,8 +34,7 @@ set(TEST_SRC_FILES
     tests/jsongenerator.cpp
 )
 
-# find c++utilities and link against the library
-find_package(c++utilities 4.12.0 REQUIRED)
+# link against c++utilities
 use_cpp_utilities()
 
 # find Clang for LibTooling; adding clangTooling should be sufficient as it pulls all transitive dependencies
diff --git a/lib/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/CMakeLists.txt
index c844002..4613b9f 100644
--- a/lib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,11 +28,9 @@ set(DOC_FILES
     README.md
 )
 
-# find c++utilities, but only add the include dirs because we're not depending on the actual library
-find_package(c++utilities 4.11.0 REQUIRED)
-list(APPEND PUBLIC_SHARED_INCLUDE_DIRS ${CPP_UTILITIES_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-list(APPEND PUBLIC_STATIC_INCLUDE_DIRS ${CPP_UTILITIES_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CPP_UTILITIES_MODULE_DIRS})
+# add (only) the include dirs for c++utilities because we're not depending on the actual library
+list(APPEND PUBLIC_SHARED_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CPP_UTILITIES_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+list(APPEND PUBLIC_STATIC_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CPP_UTILITIES_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
 
 # find RapidJSON, also add only the include dirs because RapidJSON is a header-only library
 find_package(RapidJSON)