diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 897e61217..435b11208 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -218,6 +218,8 @@ build_esp_idf_tests:
 
 .build_examples_make_template: &build_examples_make_template
   <<: *build_template
+  # This is a workaround for a rarely encountered issue with building examples in CI.
+  # Probably related to building of Kconfig in 'make clean' stage
   retry: 1
   artifacts:
     when: always
@@ -251,7 +253,6 @@ build_esp_idf_tests:
 # same as above, but for CMake
 .build_examples_cmake_template: &build_examples_cmake_template
   <<: *build_template
-  retry: 1
   artifacts:
     when: always
     paths:
diff --git a/tools/ci/build_examples.sh b/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
index 81576bf55..2210a4b45 100755
--- a/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ else
     [ -z ${JOB_PATTERN} ] && die "JOB_PATTERN is bad"
 
     # parse number 'NUM' at the end of string 'some_your_text_NUM'
-    JOB_NUM=$( echo ${JOB_NAME} | sed -n -r 's/^.*_([0-9]+)$/\1/p' )
+    # NOTE: Getting rid of the leading zero to get the decimal
+    JOB_NUM=$( echo ${JOB_NAME} | sed -n -r 's/^.*_0*([0-9]+)$/\1/p' )
     [ -z ${JOB_NUM} ] && die "JOB_NUM is bad"
 
     # count number of the jobs
@@ -120,14 +121,19 @@ build_example () {
         local BUILDLOG=${LOG_PATH}/ex_${ID}_log.txt
         touch ${BUILDLOG}
 
+        local FLASH_ARGS=build/download.config
+
         make clean >>${BUILDLOG} 2>&1 &&
         make defconfig >>${BUILDLOG} 2>&1 &&
         make all >>${BUILDLOG} 2>&1 &&
-        ( make print_flash_cmd | tail -n 1 >build/download.config ) >>${BUILDLOG} 2>&1 ||
+        make print_flash_cmd >${FLASH_ARGS}.full 2>>${BUILDLOG} ||
         {
             RESULT=$?; FAILED_EXAMPLES+=" ${EXAMPLE_NAME}" ;
         }
 
+        tail -n 1 ${FLASH_ARGS}.full > ${FLASH_ARGS} || :
+        test -s ${FLASH_ARGS} || die "Error: ${FLASH_ARGS} file is empty"
+
         cat ${BUILDLOG}
     popd
 
diff --git a/tools/ci/build_examples_cmake.sh b/tools/ci/build_examples_cmake.sh
index 849943b93..50ce7f1e6 100755
--- a/tools/ci/build_examples_cmake.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/build_examples_cmake.sh
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ else
     [ -z ${JOB_PATTERN} ] && die "JOB_PATTERN is bad"
 
     # parse number 'NUM' at the end of string 'some_your_text_NUM'
-    JOB_NUM=$( echo ${JOB_NAME} | sed -n -r 's/^.*_([0-9]+)$/\1/p' )
+    # NOTE: Getting rid of the leading zero to get the decimal
+    JOB_NUM=$( echo ${JOB_NAME} | sed -n -r 's/^.*_0*([0-9]+)$/\1/p' )
     [ -z ${JOB_NUM} ] && die "JOB_NUM is bad"
 
     # count number of the jobs