diff --git a/zuul/driver/sql/sqlreporter.py b/zuul/driver/sql/sqlreporter.py
index d225fd794a..4b70e4eb64 100644
--- a/zuul/driver/sql/sqlreporter.py
+++ b/zuul/driver/sql/sqlreporter.py
@@ -147,13 +147,18 @@ class SQLReporter(BaseReporter):
                 else:
                     self.log.exception("Unable to create build")
 
-    def reportBuildEnd(self, build, tenant, final):
+    def reportBuildEnd(self, build, tenant, final,
+                       missing_buildset_okay=False):
         for retry_count in range(self.retry_count):
             try:
                 with self.connection.getSession() as db:
                     db_build = db.getBuild(tenant=tenant, uuid=build.uuid)
                     if not db_build:
                         db_build = self._createBuild(db, build)
+                    if not db_build:
+                        if missing_buildset_okay:
+                            return
+                        raise Exception("Unable to create build in DB")
 
                     end_time = build.end_time or time.time()
                     end = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(
diff --git a/zuul/scheduler.py b/zuul/scheduler.py
index 7b18d9e78f..6fc6cad676 100644
--- a/zuul/scheduler.py
+++ b/zuul/scheduler.py
@@ -2947,13 +2947,22 @@ class Scheduler(threading.Thread):
             )
 
             self._cleanupCompletedBuild(build)
-            # This usually happens when we have already canceled a
-            # build and reported stats for it, so don't send stats in
-            # this case.
+            # If we have not reported start for this build, we don't
+            # need to report end.  If we haven't reported start, we
+            # won't have a build record in the DB, so we would
+            # normally create one and attach it to a buildset, but we
+            # don't know the buildset, and we don't have enough
+            # information to construct a buildset record from scratch.
+            # Indicate that is acceptable in this situation, so we
+            # don't throw an exception.  In other words: if we don't
+            # have a build record in the DB here, the
+            # "missing_buildset_okay" flag will cause reportBuildEnd
+            # to do nothing.
             try:
                 self.sql.reportBuildEnd(
                     build, tenant=pipeline.tenant.name,
-                    final=True)
+                    final=True,
+                    missing_buildset_okay=True)
             except Exception:
                 log.exception("Error reporting build completion to DB:")