If --prefix is specified when configuring, then it is usual for "make install" to create the directories if they do not exist.
For HCT (0.7.60) this does not happen. If I use "./configure --prefix /opt/hct-0.7.60, I must then "mkdir hct-0.7.60" and "mkdir hct-0.7.60/bin" before using "make install".
At the very least this should be added to the installation documentation.
This will be fixed in the upcoming release. Scheduled in the next week or two.