diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 8bc7786c1..9deb14fcb 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@ option(ENABLE_FORTRAN     "Build Fortran  support"      OFF)
 
 option(ENABLE_MPI         "Build MPI Support"           OFF)
 
+# Add another option that provides extra 
+# control over conduit tests for cases where 
+# conduit is brought in as a submodule
+option(CONDUIT_ENABLE_TESTS "Build conduit tests" ON)
 
 ################################
 # Invoke CMake Fortran setup
@@ -146,7 +150,11 @@ endif()
 # Add our tests
 ################################
 if(ENABLE_TESTS)
-    add_subdirectory(tests)
+    if(CONDUIT_ENABLE_TESTS)
+        add_subdirectory(tests)
+    else()
+        message(STATUS "Skipping test targets (CONDUIT_ENABLE_TESTS = OFF)")
+    endif()
 else()
     message(STATUS "Skipping test targets (ENABLE_TESTS = OFF)")
 endif()
diff --git a/src/docs/sphinx/building.rst b/src/docs/sphinx/building.rst
index 3a1f34151..377943a60 100644
--- a/src/docs/sphinx/building.rst
+++ b/src/docs/sphinx/building.rst
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ Conduit's build system supports the following CMake options:
 * **ENABLE_DOCS** - Controls if the Conduit documentation is built (when sphinx and doxygen are found ). *(default = ON)*
 * **ENABLE_COVERAGE** - Controls if code coverage compiler flags are used to build Conduit. *(default = OFF)*
 * **ENABLE_PYTHON** - Controls if the Conduit Python module is built. *(default = OFF)*
+* **CONDUIT_ENABLE_TESTS** - Extra control for if Conduit unit tests are built. Useful for in cases where Conduit is pulled into a larger CMake project  *(default = ON)*
 
 
 The Conduit Python module can be built for Python 2 or Python 3. To select a specific Python, set the CMake variable **PYTHON_EXECUTABLE** to path of the desired python binary. The Conduit Python module requires Numpy. The selected Python instance must provide Numpy, or PYTHONPATH must be set to include a Numpy install compatible with the selected Python install.