MPLABX 5.0 IDE error: (1180) directory "build/default/production" does not exist

Posting this so that people can find the solution.

I experienced the same problem as posted here where compilation would fail with this error if the project file is on a network drive, a NFS mount in my case. Running make in the directory from the CLI got the same error. Strange to say, the fix of copying it to a local directory worked.

I don't know what the root cause is but this is another thing you could try.