diff --git a/bench/commands/utils.py b/bench/commands/utils.py
index 9ba55bb8..b93d2f59 100644
--- a/bench/commands/utils.py
+++ b/bench/commands/utils.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ def shell(bench_path='.'):
 def backup_site(site):
 	"backup site"
 	from bench.utils import get_sites, backup_site
-	if not site in get_sites(bench_path='.'):
+	if site not in get_sites(bench_path='.'):
 		print('site not found')
 		sys.exit(1)
 	backup_site(site, bench_path='.')
diff --git a/bench/utils.py b/bench/utils.py
index 82fe900f..084e4e50 100755
--- a/bench/utils.py
+++ b/bench/utils.py
@@ -220,14 +220,10 @@ def build_assets(bench_path='.', app=None):
 		exec_cmd(command, cwd=bench_path)
 
 def get_sites(bench_path='.'):
-	sites_dir = os.path.join(bench_path, "sites")
-	sites = [site for site in os.listdir(sites_dir)
-		if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(sites_dir, site)) and site not in ('assets',)]
+	sites_path = os.path.join(bench_path, 'sites')
+	sites = (site for site in os.listdir(sites_path) if os.path.exists(os.path.join(sites_path, site, 'site_config.json')))
 	return sites
 
-def get_sites_dir(bench_path='.'):
-	return os.path.abspath(os.path.join(bench_path, 'sites'))
-
 def get_bench_dir(bench_path='.'):
 	return os.path.abspath(bench_path)
 
@@ -441,7 +437,7 @@ def restart_systemd_processes(bench_path='.', web_workers=False):
 	exec_cmd('sudo systemctl start -- $(systemctl show -p Requires {bench_name}.target | cut -d= -f2)'.format(bench_name=bench_name))
 
 def set_default_site(site, bench_path='.'):
-	if not site in get_sites(bench_path=bench_path):
+	if site not in get_sites(bench_path=bench_path):
 		raise Exception("Site not in bench")
 	exec_cmd("{frappe} --use {site}".format(frappe=get_frappe(bench_path=bench_path), site=site),
 			cwd=os.path.join(bench_path, 'sites'))