diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 326524ad0e..863a585eb5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ BUCKET ?= $(STAGING_BUCKET)
 PROD_REGISTRY ?= k8s.gcr.io/capi-openstack
 REGISTRY ?= $(STAGING_REGISTRY)
 RELEASE_TAG ?= $(shell git describe --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null)
-PULL_BASE_REF ?= $(RELEASE_TAG) # PULL_BASE_REF will be provided by Prow
+# PULL_BASE_REF will be provided by Prow
+PULL_BASE_REF ?= $(RELEASE_TAG)
 RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG ?= $(PULL_BASE_REF)
 RELEASE_DIR := out
 
@@ -148,9 +149,10 @@ CONFORMANCE_GINKGO_ARGS ?= -stream
 test-conformance: $(GINKGO) $(KIND) $(KUSTOMIZE) e2e-image ## Run clusterctl based conformance test on workload cluster (requires Docker).
 	time $(GINKGO) -trace -progress -v -tags=e2e -focus="conformance" $(CONFORMANCE_GINKGO_ARGS) ./test/e2e/suites/conformance/... -- -config-path="$(E2E_CONF_PATH)" -artifacts-folder="$(ARTIFACTS)" --data-folder="$(E2E_DATA_DIR)" $(CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS)
 
-
-test-conformance-fast: ## Run clusterctl based conformance test on workload cluster (requires Docker) using a subset of the conformance suite in parallel.
-	$(MAKE) test-conformance CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS="-kubetest.config-file=$(KUBETEST_FAST_CONF_PATH) -kubetest.ginkgo-nodes=5 $(E2E_ARGS)"
+## Run clusterctl based conformance test on workload cluster (requires Docker) using a subset of the conformance suite in parallel.
+.PHONY: test-conformance-fast
+test-conformance-fast: CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS="-kubetest.config-file=$(KUBETEST_FAST_CONF_PATH) -kubetest.ginkgo-nodes=5 $(E2E_ARGS)"
+test-conformance-fast: test-conformance
 
 ## --------------------------------------
 ## Binaries
@@ -160,8 +162,7 @@ test-conformance-fast: ## Run clusterctl based conformance test on workload clus
 binaries: managers ## Builds and installs all binaries
 
 .PHONY: managers
-managers:
-	$(MAKE) manager-openstack-infrastructure
+managers: manager-openstack-infrastructure
 
 .PHONY: manager-openstack-infrastructure
 manager-openstack-infrastructure: ## Build manager binary.
@@ -192,14 +193,11 @@ modules: ## Runs go mod to ensure proper vendoring.
 	cd $(TOOLS_DIR); go mod tidy
 
 .PHONY: generate
-generate: ## Generate code
-	$(MAKE) generate-go
-	$(MAKE) generate-manifests
+generate: generate-go generate-manifests
 
 .PHONY: generate-go
-generate-go: $(MOCKGEN)
+generate-go: $(MOCKGEN) $(CONTROLLER_GEN) $(CONVERSION_GEN) $(DEFAULTER_GEN)
 	go generate ./...
-	$(MAKE) -B $(CONTROLLER_GEN) $(CONVERSION_GEN) $(DEFAULTER_GEN)
 	$(CONTROLLER_GEN) \
 		paths=./api/... \
 		object:headerFile=./hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.generatego.txt
@@ -251,8 +249,7 @@ docker-build-%:
 	$(MAKE) ARCH=$* docker-build
 
 .PHONY: docker-push-all ## Push all the architecture docker images
-docker-push-all: $(addprefix docker-push-,$(ALL_ARCH))
-	$(MAKE) docker-push-manifest
+docker-push-all: $(addprefix docker-push-,$(ALL_ARCH)) docker-push-manifest
 
 docker-push-%:
 	$(MAKE) ARCH=$* docker-push
@@ -265,8 +262,9 @@ docker-push-manifest: ## Push the fat manifest docker image.
 	docker manifest push --purge ${CONTROLLER_IMG}:${TAG}
 
 .PHONY: staging-manifests
-staging-manifests:
-	$(MAKE) $(RELEASE_DIR)/$(MANIFEST_FILE).yaml PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent TAG=$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
+staging-manifests: PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent
+staging-manifests: TAG=$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
+staging-manifests: compiled-manifest
 
 ## --------------------------------------
 ## Release
@@ -283,54 +281,48 @@ list-staging-releases: ## List staging images for image promotion
 list-image:
 	gcloud container images list-tags $(STAGING_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE) --filter="tags=('$(RELEASE_TAG)')" --format=json
 
+## Builds and push container images using the latest git tag for the commit.
 .PHONY: release
-release: $(RELEASE_NOTES) clean-release $(RELEASE_DIR)  ## Builds and push container images using the latest git tag for the commit.
+release: REGISTRY=$(PROD_REGISTRY)
+release: TAG=$(RELEASE_TAG)
+release: PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent
+release: $(RELEASE_NOTES) clean-release release-checkout-tag manifest-modification release-manifests release-templates | $(RELEASE_DIR)
+
+release-checkout-tag:
 	@if [ -z "${RELEASE_TAG}" ]; then echo "RELEASE_TAG is not set"; exit 1; fi
 	@if ! [ -z "$$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then echo "Your local git repository contains uncommitted changes, use git clean before proceeding."; fi
 	git checkout "${RELEASE_TAG}"
-	# Set the manifest image to the production bucket.
-	$(MAKE) manifest-modification REGISTRY=$(PROD_REGISTRY)
-	$(MAKE) release-manifests
-	$(MAKE) release-templates
 
+## Set the manifest images to the staging/production bucket.
 .PHONY: manifest-modification
-manifest-modification: # Set the manifest images to the staging/production bucket.
-	$(MAKE) set-manifest-image \
-		MANIFEST_IMG=$(REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_NAME) MANIFEST_TAG=$(RELEASE_TAG) \
-		TARGET_RESOURCE="./config/default/manager_image_patch.yaml"
-	$(MAKE) set-manifest-pull-policy PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent TARGET_RESOURCE="./config/default/manager_pull_policy.yaml"
+manifest-modification: set-manifest-image set-manifest-pull-policy
 
 .PHONY: set-manifest-image
 set-manifest-image:
 	$(info Updating kustomize image patch file for manager resource)
-	sed -i'' -e 's@image: .*@image: '"${MANIFEST_IMG}:$(MANIFEST_TAG)"'@' $(TARGET_RESOURCE)
+	sed -i'' -e 's@image: .*@image: '"$(REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_NAME):$(RELEASE_TAG)"'@' ./config/default/manager_image_patch.yaml
 
 .PHONY: set-manifest-pull-policy
 set-manifest-pull-policy:
 	$(info Updating kustomize pull policy file for manager resources)
-	sed -i'' -e 's@imagePullPolicy: .*@imagePullPolicy: '"$(PULL_POLICY)"'@' $(TARGET_RESOURCE)
+	sed -i'' -e 's@imagePullPolicy: .*@imagePullPolicy: '"$(PULL_POLICY)"'@' ./config/default/manager_pull_policy.yaml
 
 .PHONY: release-manifests
-release-manifests:
-	$(MAKE) $(RELEASE_DIR)/$(MANIFEST_FILE).yaml TAG=$(RELEASE_TAG) PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent
+release-manifests: TAG=$(RELEASE_TAG)
+release-manifests: PULL_POLICY=IfNotPresent
+release-manifests: compiled-manifest
 	# Add metadata to the release artifacts
 	cp metadata.yaml $(RELEASE_DIR)/metadata.yaml
 
+## Builds and push container images and manifests to the staging bucket.
 .PHONY: release-staging
-release-staging: ## Builds and push container images and manifests to the staging bucket.
-	$(MAKE) docker-build-all
-	$(MAKE) docker-push-all
-	$(MAKE) release-alias-tag
-	$(MAKE) staging-manifests
-	$(MAKE) upload-staging-artifacts
+release-staging: docker-build-all docker-push-all release-alias-tag staging-manifests upload-staging-artifacts
 
+## Tags and push container images to the staging bucket. Example image tag: capi-openstack-controller:nightly_master_20210121
 .PHONY: release-staging-nightly
-release-staging-nightly: ## Tags and push container images to the staging bucket. Example image tag: capi-openstack-controller:nightly_master_20210121
-	$(eval NEW_RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG := nightly_$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)_$(shell date +'%Y%m%d'))
-	echo $(NEW_RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
-	$(MAKE) release-alias-tag TAG=$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG) RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG=$(NEW_RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
-	$(MAKE) staging-manifests RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG=$(NEW_RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
-	$(MAKE) upload-staging-artifacts RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG=$(NEW_RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
+release-staging-nightly: RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG := nightly_$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)_$(shell date +'%Y%m%d')
+release-staging-nightly: TAG=$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
+release-staging-nightly: release-alias-tag staging-manifests upload-staging-artifacts
 
 .PHONY: upload-staging-artifacts
 upload-staging-artifacts: ## Upload release artifacts to the staging bucket
@@ -361,21 +353,13 @@ IMAGE_PATCH_DIR := $(ARTIFACTS)/image-patch
 $(IMAGE_PATCH_DIR): $(ARTIFACTS)
 	mkdir -p $@
 
-.PHONY: $(RELEASE_DIR)/$(MANIFEST_FILE).yaml
-$(RELEASE_DIR)/$(MANIFEST_FILE).yaml:
-	$(MAKE) compiled-manifest \
-		PROVIDER=$(MANIFEST_FILE) \
-		OLD_IMG=$(CONTROLLER_ORIGINAL_IMG) \
-		MANIFEST_IMG=$(CONTROLLER_IMG) \
-		CONTROLLER_NAME=$(CONTROLLER_NAME) \
-		PROVIDER_CONFIG_DIR=$(CONFIG_DIR) \
-		NAMESPACE=$(NAMESPACE)
-
+$(RELEASE_DIR)/$(MANIFEST_FILE).yaml: compiled-manifest
 .PHONY: compiled-manifest
-compiled-manifest: $(RELEASE_DIR) $(KUSTOMIZE)
-	$(MAKE) image-patch-source-manifest
-	$(MAKE) image-patch-pull-policy
-	$(MAKE) image-patch-kustomization
+compiled-manifest: PROVIDER=$(MANIFEST_FILE)
+compiled-manifest: OLD_IMG=$(CONTROLLER_ORIGINAL_IMG)
+compiled-manifest: MANIFEST_IMG=$(CONTROLLER_IMG)
+compiled-manifest: PROVIDER_CONFIG_DIR=$(CONFIG_DIR)
+compiled-manifest: $(KUSTOMIZE) image-patch-source-manifest image-patch-pull-policy image-patch-kustomization | $(RELEASE_DIR)
 	$(KUSTOMIZE) build $(IMAGE_PATCH_DIR)/$(PROVIDER) > $(RELEASE_DIR)/$(PROVIDER).yaml
 
 .PHONY: image-patch-source-manifest