diff --git a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js
index 4f3f886e8997a..de612d0db7474 100644
--- a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js
+++ b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js
@@ -184,8 +184,8 @@ module.exports = cls => class IdealTreeBuilder extends cls {
       await this.#loadNpmExtension()
       this.#loadPackageExtensions()
       await this.#inflateAncientLockfile()
-      await this.#applyUserRequests(options)
       await this.#buildDeps()
+      await this.#applyUserRequests(options)
       await this.#fixDepFlags()
       await this.#pruneFailedOptional()
       await this.#checkEngineAndPlatform()