diff --git a/lib/bootstrap-local.js b/lib/bootstrap-local.js
index c8194e11fb..c6ff2e45f6 100644
--- a/lib/bootstrap-local.js
+++ b/lib/bootstrap-local.js
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
  */
 /* eslint-disable no-console */
 'use strict';
+const debug = require('debug');
+const debugLocal = debug('ng:local');
+const debugBuildEjs = debug('ng:local:build:ejs');
+const debugBuildSchema = debug('ng:local:build:schema');
+const debugBuildTs = debug('ng:local:build:ts');
 
 const child_process = require('child_process');
 const fs = require('fs');
@@ -16,12 +21,15 @@ const ts = require('typescript');
 
 const tmpRoot = temp.mkdirSync('angular-devkit-');
 
+debugLocal('starting bootstrap local');
+
 const compilerOptions = ts.readConfigFile(path.join(__dirname, '../tsconfig.json'), p => {
   return fs.readFileSync(p, 'utf-8');
 }).config;
 
 let _istanbulRequireHook = null;
 if (process.env['CODE_COVERAGE'] || process.argv.indexOf('--code-coverage') !== -1) {
+  debugLocal('setup code coverage');
   _istanbulRequireHook = require('./istanbul-local').istanbulRequireHook;
   // async keyword isn't supported by the Esprima version used by Istanbul version used by us.
   // TODO: update istanbul to istanbul-lib-* (see http://istanbul.js.org/) and remove this hack.
@@ -32,6 +40,7 @@ if (process.env['CODE_COVERAGE'] || process.argv.indexOf('--code-coverage') !==
 // Check if we need to profile this CLI run.
 let profiler = null;
 if (process.env['DEVKIT_PROFILING']) {
+  debugLocal('setup profiling');
   try {
     profiler = require('v8-profiler-node8');
   } catch (err) {
@@ -47,6 +56,7 @@ if (process.env['DEVKIT_PROFILING']) {
       const profileData = JSON.stringify(cpuProfile);
       const filePath = path.resolve(process.cwd(), process.env.DEVKIT_PROFILING) + '.cpuprofile';
 
+      debugLocal('saving profiling data');
       console.log(`Profiling data saved in "${filePath}": ${profileData.length} bytes`);
       fs.writeFileSync(filePath, profileData);
     }
@@ -62,6 +72,7 @@ if (process.env['DEVKIT_PROFILING']) {
 }
 
 if (process.env['DEVKIT_LONG_STACK_TRACE']) {
+  debugLocal('setup long stack trace');
   Error.stackTraceLimit = Infinity;
 }
 
@@ -81,6 +92,8 @@ require.extensions['.ts'] = function (m, filename) {
     return m._compile(fs.readFileSync(filename), filename);
   }
 
+  debugBuildTs(filename);
+
   // Node requires all require hooks to be sync.
   const source = fs.readFileSync(filename).toString();
 
@@ -90,6 +103,7 @@ require.extensions['.ts'] = function (m, filename) {
     if (_istanbulRequireHook) {
       result = _istanbulRequireHook(result, filename);
     }
+    debugBuildTs('done');
 
     // Send it to node to execute.
     return m._compile(result, filename);
@@ -102,10 +116,13 @@ require.extensions['.ts'] = function (m, filename) {
 
 
 require.extensions['.ejs'] = function (m, filename) {
+  debugBuildEjs(filename);
+
   const source = fs.readFileSync(filename).toString();
   const template = require('@angular-devkit/core').template;
   const result = template(source, { sourceURL: filename, sourceMap: true });
 
+  debugBuildEjs('done');
   return m._compile(result.source.replace(/return/, 'module.exports.default = '), filename);
 };
 
@@ -157,6 +174,8 @@ if (!__dirname.match(new RegExp(`\\${path.sep}node_modules\\${path.sep}`))) {
           if (fs.existsSync(maybeTsPath)) {
             return maybeTsPath;
           } else {
+            debugBuildSchema('%s', resolved);
+
             // This script has the be synchronous, so we spawnSync instead of, say, requiring the runner and calling
             // the method directly.
             const tmpJsonSchemaPath = path.join(tmpRoot, maybeTsPath.replace(/[^0-9a-zA-Z.]/g, '_'));
@@ -166,6 +185,7 @@ if (!__dirname.match(new RegExp(`\\${path.sep}node_modules\\${path.sep}`))) {
                 child_process.spawnSync('node', [quicktypeRunnerPath, resolved, tmpJsonSchemaPath]);
               }
 
+              debugBuildSchema('done');
               return tmpJsonSchemaPath;
             } catch (_) {
               // Just return resolvedPath and let Node deals with it.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6823e18f46..0360c86103 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -63,8 +63,10 @@
     ]
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "@types/debug": "^4.1.2",
     "@types/node-fetch": "^2.1.6",
     "@types/progress": "^2.0.3",
+    "debug": "^4.1.1",
     "glob": "^7.0.3",
     "node-fetch": "^2.2.0",
     "puppeteer": "1.12.2",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 634f403763..3ae32cc8cc 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -291,6 +291,11 @@
     "@types/minimatch" "*"
     "@types/webpack" "*"
 
+"@types/debug@^4.1.2":
+  version "4.1.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/debug/-/debug-4.1.2.tgz#84824e9259fc583dd9385635738359c9582f7f82"
+  integrity sha512-jkf6UiWUjcOqdQbatbvOm54/YbCdjt3JjiAzT/9KS2XtMmOkYHdKsI5u8fulhbuTUuiqNBfa6J5GSDiwjK+zLA==
+
 "@types/estree@0.0.39":
   version "0.0.39"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/estree/-/estree-0.0.39.tgz#e177e699ee1b8c22d23174caaa7422644389509f"