Theodore Sturgeon gave "We Can Build You" a mixed review, praising Dick on the "handling of his characters, who are consistent and warmly recognizable even in their stubborn irrationalities, on the boldness and provocation of his themes on the richness of his auctorial background and the sparkles of laughter finger-flicked all over his work." He concluded, though, that Dick's "willingness to pursue some collateral and fascinating line at the expense -- and even the abandonment -- of his central theme" weakened the novel.