diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2df2d423c..ca03e30c3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ option(OPENFPGA_WITH_YOSYS_PLUGIN "Enable building Yosys plugin" ON)
 option(OPENFPGA_WITH_TEST "Enable testing build for codebase. Once enabled, make test can be run" ON)
 option(OPENFPGA_WITH_VERSION "Enable version always-up-to-date when building codebase. Disable only when you do not care an accurate version number" ON)
 option(OPENFPGA_WITH_SWIG "Enable SWIG interface when building codebase. Disable when you do not need high-level interfaces, such as Tcl/Python" ON)
+option(OPENFPGA_ENABLE_STRICT_COMPILE "Specifies whether compiler warnings should be treated as errors (e.g. -Werror)" OFF)
 
 # Options pass on to VTR
 set(WITH_ABC ON CACHE BOOL "Enable building ABC in Verilog-to-Routing")
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ set(WITH_YOSYS OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable building Yosys in Verilog-to-Routing")
 set(ODIN_YOSYS OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable building odin with yosys in Verilog-to-Routing")
 set(YOSYS_SV_UHDM_PLUGIN OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable building and installing Yosys SystemVerilog and UHDM plugins in Verilog-to-Routing")
 set(VTR_ENABLE_VERSION ${OPENFPGA_WITH_VERSION} CACHE BOOL "Enable version always-up-to-date when building codebase. Disable only when you do not care an accurate version number")
+set(VTR_ENABLE_STRICT_COMPILE ${OPENFPGA_ENABLE_STRICT_COMPILE} CACHE BOOL "Specifies whether compiler warnings should be treated as errors (e.g. -Werror)")
 
 # TCL file/lib required to link with SWIG generated wrapper
 if (OPENFPGA_WITH_SWIG)
diff --git a/openfpga/CMakeLists.txt b/openfpga/CMakeLists.txt
index cbe4e2707..5ee3d079d 100644
--- a/openfpga/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/openfpga/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -47,6 +47,24 @@ target_link_libraries(libopenfpga
 add_executable(openfpga ${EXEC_SOURCE})
 target_link_libraries(openfpga libopenfpga)
 
+if (OPENFPGA_ENABLE_STRICT_COMPILE)
+    message(STATUS "OpenFPGA: building with strict flags")
+
+    set(OPENFPGA_STRICT_COMPILE_FLAGS_TO_CHECK
+        #GCC-like
+        "-Werror"
+        # due to the pointer hackery in timing_driven_route_structs and BinaryHeap.heap_
+        "-Wno-error=free-nonheap-object"
+        )
+
+    foreach(flag ${OPENFPGA_STRICT_COMPILE_FLAGS_TO_CHECK})
+        message(STATUS "\tAdding CXX flag: ${flag}")
+        target_compile_options(libopenfpga PRIVATE ${flag})
+        target_compile_options(openfpga PRIVATE ${flag})
+        target_link_libraries(openfpga ${flag})
+    endforeach()
+endif()
+
 #Suppress IPO link warnings if IPO is enabled
 get_target_property(OPENFPGA_USES_IPO openfpga INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION)
 if (OPENFPGA_USES_IPO)