diff --git a/services/backup/CMakeLists.txt b/services/backup/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/services/backup/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/services/backup/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,36 +14,44 @@
 set(WITH_GTEST "Use Google Test" OFF)
 
 # FIND LIBS
-include(./cmake-components/grpc.cmake)
-include(./cmake-components/folly.cmake)
-add_subdirectory(./lib/glog)
+find_package(glog REQUIRED)
+find_package(gRPC REQUIRED)
+find_package(Folly REQUIRED)
 find_package(AWSSDK REQUIRED COMPONENTS core dynamodb)
 find_package(Boost 1.40 COMPONENTS program_options REQUIRED)
 
+# blob will bring in everything else
+add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../blob
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/blob
+  EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
+)
+
 # FIND FILES
 file(GLOB DOUBLE_CONVERSION_SOURCES
   "./lib/double-conversion/double-conversion/*.cc"
 )
 
-file(GLOB GENERATED_CODE "./_generated/*.cc")
-
 file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCE_CODE "./src/*.cpp")
+file(GLOB COMMON_CODE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../lib/src/*.cpp")
 
 include_directories(
-  ./src
-  ./src/client-base-reactors
-  ./src/server-base-reactors
-  ./src/grpc-client
-  ./src/DatabaseEntities
-  ./src/Reactors
-  ./src/Reactors/server
-  ./src/Reactors/server/base-reactors
-  ./src/Reactors/client
-  ./src/Reactors/client/blob
-  ./src/Reactors/client/base-reactors
-  ./_generated
-  ${FOLLY_INCLUDES}
-  ./lib/double-conversion
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/client-base-reactors
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/server-base-reactors
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/grpc-client
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/DatabaseEntities
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors/server
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors/server/base-reactors
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors/client
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors/client/blob
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/Reactors/client/base-reactors
+
+  # Ideally, we would add comm-services-common as a
+  # target link library, however, aws-sdk seems to not be able
+  # to be linked transitively
+  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../lib/src
+
   ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR}
 )
 
@@ -56,6 +64,7 @@
   ${FOLLY_SOURCES}
 
   ${SOURCE_CODE}
+  ${COMMON_CODE}
 )
 
 set(
@@ -65,6 +74,13 @@
   ${AWSSDK_LINK_LIBRARIES}
   ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
   glog::glog
+  Folly::folly
+  gRPC::grpc++
+
+  comm-blob-grpc
+  comm-backup-grpc
+  comm-client-base-reactors
+  comm-server-base-reactors
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(
diff --git a/services/backup/src/BackupServiceImpl.h b/services/backup/src/BackupServiceImpl.h
--- a/services/backup/src/BackupServiceImpl.h
+++ b/services/backup/src/BackupServiceImpl.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "../_generated/backup.grpc.pb.h"
-#include "../_generated/backup.pb.h"
+#include <backup.grpc.pb.h>
+#include <backup.pb.h>
 
 #include <grpcpp/grpcpp.h>
 
diff --git a/services/backup/src/DatabaseEntities/DatabaseEntitiesTools.h b/services/backup/src/DatabaseEntities/DatabaseEntitiesTools.h
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/services/backup/src/DatabaseEntities/DatabaseEntitiesTools.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include "Item.h"
-
-#include "BackupItem.h"
-#include "LogItem.h"
-
-#include <memory>
-#include <type_traits>
-
-namespace comm {
-namespace network {
-namespace database {
-
-template <typename T> std::shared_ptr<T> createItemByType() {
-  static_assert(std::is_base_of<Item, T>::value, "T must inherit from Item");
-  return std::make_shared<T>();
-}
-
-} // namespace database
-} // namespace network
-} // namespace comm
diff --git a/services/backup/src/DatabaseManager.h b/services/backup/src/DatabaseManager.h
--- a/services/backup/src/DatabaseManager.h
+++ b/services/backup/src/DatabaseManager.h
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include "BackupItem.h"
 #include "DatabaseEntitiesTools.h"
 #include "DatabaseManagerBase.h"
 #include "DynamoDBTools.h"
+#include "LogItem.h"
 
 #include <aws/core/Aws.h>
 #include <aws/dynamodb/model/AttributeDefinition.h>
diff --git a/services/backup/src/Reactors/client/blob/BlobGetClientReactor.h b/services/backup/src/Reactors/client/blob/BlobGetClientReactor.h
--- a/services/backup/src/Reactors/client/blob/BlobGetClientReactor.h
+++ b/services/backup/src/Reactors/client/blob/BlobGetClientReactor.h
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "../_generated/blob.grpc.pb.h"
-#include "../_generated/blob.pb.h"
+#include <blob.grpc.pb.h>
+#include <blob.pb.h>
 
-#include "ClientReadReactorBase.h"
+#include <ClientReadReactorBase.h>
 
 #include <folly/MPMCQueue.h>
 #include <grpcpp/grpcpp.h>
diff --git a/services/backup/src/Reactors/server/PullBackupReactor.h b/services/backup/src/Reactors/server/PullBackupReactor.h
--- a/services/backup/src/Reactors/server/PullBackupReactor.h
+++ b/services/backup/src/Reactors/server/PullBackupReactor.h
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include "BackupItem.h"
 #include "BlobGetClientReactor.h"
 #include "DatabaseEntitiesTools.h"
+#include "LogItem.h"
 #include "ServiceBlobClient.h"
 
-#include "../_generated/backup.grpc.pb.h"
-#include "../_generated/backup.pb.h"
+#include <backup.grpc.pb.h>
+#include <backup.pb.h>
 
 #include "ServerWriteReactorBase.h"
 
diff --git a/services/backup/src/grpc-client/ServiceBlobClient.h b/services/backup/src/grpc-client/ServiceBlobClient.h
--- a/services/backup/src/grpc-client/ServiceBlobClient.h
+++ b/services/backup/src/grpc-client/ServiceBlobClient.h
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 #include "BlobGetClientReactor.h"
 #include "BlobPutClientReactor.h"
 
-#include "../_generated/blob.grpc.pb.h"
-#include "../_generated/blob.pb.h"
+#include <blob.grpc.pb.h>
+#include <blob.pb.h>
 
 #include <grpcpp/grpcpp.h>