diff --git a/ci/build_wheel.sh b/ci/build_wheel.sh
index 9bfad162e50..5e7d02bbedf 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -22,11 +22,29 @@ cd "${package_dir}"
 sccache --stop-server 2>/dev/null || true
 
 rapids-logger "Building '${package_name}' wheel"
+
+RAPIDS_PIP_WHEEL_ARGS=(
+  -w dist
+  -v
+  --no-deps
+  --disable-pip-version-check
+)
+
+# Only use --build-constraint when build isolation is enabled.
+#
+# Passing '--build-constraint' and '--no-build-isolation` together results in an error from 'pip',
+# but we want to keep environment variable PIP_CONSTRAINT set unconditionally.
+# PIP_NO_BUILD_ISOLATION=0 means "add --no-build-isolation" (ref: https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/573
+if [[ "${PIP_NO_BUILD_ISOLATION:-}" != "0" ]]; then
+    RAPIDS_PIP_WHEEL_ARGS+=(--build-constraint="${PIP_CONSTRAINT}")
+fi
+
+# unset PIP_CONSTRAINT (set by rapids-init-pip)... it doesn't affect builds as of pip 25.3, and
+# results in an error from 'pip wheel' when set and --build-constraint is also passed
+unset PIP_CONSTRAINT
+
 rapids-telemetry-record build-${package_name}.log rapids-pip-retry wheel \
-    -w dist \
-    -v \
-    --no-deps \
-    --disable-pip-version-check \
+    "${RAPIDS_PIP_WHEEL_ARGS[@]}" \
     .
 
 rapids-telemetry-record sccache-stats-${package_name}.txt sccache --show-adv-stats
diff --git a/ci/build_wheel_cudf.sh b/ci/build_wheel_cudf.sh
index d76e9fc7d91..f5590da8903 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel_cudf.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel_cudf.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX="$(rapids-wheel-ctk-name-gen "${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION}")"
 # Downloads libcudf and pylibcudf wheels from this current build,
 # then ensures 'cudf' wheel builds always use the 'libcudf' and 'pylibcudf' just built in the same CI run.
 #
-# Using env variable PIP_CONSTRAINT (initialized by 'rapids-init-pip') is necessary to ensure the constraints
-# are used when creating the isolated build environment.
+# env variable 'PIP_CONSTRAINT' is set up by rapids-init-pip. It constrains all subsequent
+# 'pip install', 'pip download', etc. calls (except those used in 'pip wheel', handled separately in build scripts)
 LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(RAPIDS_PY_WHEEL_NAME="libcudf_${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}" rapids-download-wheels-from-github cpp)
 PYLIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(RAPIDS_PY_WHEEL_NAME="pylibcudf_${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}" rapids-download-wheels-from-github python)
 echo "libcudf-${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX} @ file://$(echo ${LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE}/libcudf_*.whl)" >> "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"
diff --git a/ci/build_wheel_pylibcudf.sh b/ci/build_wheel_pylibcudf.sh
index c90dae0ca43..c0fc56b125a 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel_pylibcudf.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel_pylibcudf.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX="$(rapids-wheel-ctk-name-gen "${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION}")"
 # Downloads libcudf wheel from this current build,
 # then ensures 'pylibcudf' wheel builds always use the 'libcudf' just built in the same CI run.
 #
-# Using env variable PIP_CONSTRAINT (initialized by 'rapids-init-pip') is necessary to ensure the constraints
-# are used when creating the isolated build environment.
+# env variable 'PIP_CONSTRAINT' is set up by rapids-init-pip. It constrains all subsequent
+# 'pip install', 'pip download', etc. calls (except those used in 'pip wheel', handled separately in build scripts)
 LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(RAPIDS_PY_WHEEL_NAME="libcudf_${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}" rapids-download-wheels-from-github cpp)
 echo "libcudf-${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX} @ file://$(echo ${LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE}/libcudf_*.whl)" >> "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"