diff --git a/ci/scripts/r_build.sh b/ci/scripts/r_build.sh
index a435b04317d..38b54e44340 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/r_build.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/r_build.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ build_dir=${2}
 
 pushd ${source_dir}
 
-${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} .
+# build first so that any stray compiled files in r/src are ignored
+${R_BIN} CMD build .
+${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} arrow*.tar.gz
 
 if [ "${BUILD_DOCS_R}" == "ON" ]; then
   ${R_BIN} -e "pkgdown::build_site(install = FALSE)"
diff --git a/ci/scripts/r_sanitize.sh b/ci/scripts/r_sanitize.sh
index 33b43611630..52a6ca7a2b7 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/r_sanitize.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/r_sanitize.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ export CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
 ncores=$(${R_BIN} -s -e 'cat(parallel::detectCores())')
 echo "MAKEFLAGS=-j${ncores}" >> ${rhome}/etc/Renviron.site
 
-${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} .
+# build first so that any stray compiled files in r/src are ignored
+${R_BIN} CMD build .
+${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} arrow*.tar.gz
+
 # But unset the env var so that it doesn't cause us to run extra dev tests
 unset ARROW_R_DEV
 
diff --git a/ci/scripts/r_valgrind.sh b/ci/scripts/r_valgrind.sh
index 772d8f44ed5..d88b38ca57d 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/r_valgrind.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/r_valgrind.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,13 @@ source_dir=${1}/r
 
 export CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
 
-${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} ${source_dir}
-pushd ${source_dir}/tests
+pushd ${source_dir}
+
+# build first so that any stray compiled files in r/src are ignored
+${R_BIN} CMD build .
+${R_BIN} CMD INSTALL ${INSTALL_ARGS} arrow*.tar.gz
+
+pushd tests
 
 # to generate suppression files run:
 # ${R_BIN} --vanilla -d "valgrind --tool=memcheck --leak-check=full --track-origins=yes --gen-suppressions=all --log-file=memcheck.log" -f testtthat.supp
@@ -44,3 +49,5 @@ fi
 # https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/blob/fa6d356555f9ef888acf5f5e259dca958ca24f6d/.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh#L20-L85
 
 popd
+
+popd
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 834304dc7d4..5d2708e6250 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ volumes:
     name: python-wheel-windows-clcache
   ubuntu-ccache:
     name: ${ARCH}-ubuntu-${UBUNTU}-ccache
- 
+
 services:
 
   ################################# C++ #######################################
@@ -1226,6 +1226,7 @@ services:
         r_prune_deps: ${R_PRUNE_DEPS}
     environment:
       <<: *ccache
+      ARROW_SOURCE_HOME: "/arrow"
     volumes: *ubuntu-volumes
     command: >
       /bin/bash -c "
@@ -1287,6 +1288,7 @@ services:
       # AVX512 not supported by Valgrind (similar to ARROW-9851) some runners support AVX512 and some do not
       # so some build might pass without this setting, but we want to ensure that we stay to AVX2 regardless of runner.
       EXTRA_CMAKE_FLAGS: "-DARROW_RUNTIME_SIMD_LEVEL=AVX2"
+      ARROW_SOURCE_HOME: "/arrow"
     volumes: *ubuntu-volumes
     command: >
       /bin/bash -c "