diff --git a/build/common.sh b/build/common.sh
index 242848e8ab5..b9c80fef0ac 100755
--- a/build/common.sh
+++ b/build/common.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ DOCKER_OPTS=${DOCKER_OPTS:-""}
 DOCKER=(docker ${DOCKER_OPTS})
 DOCKER_HOST=${DOCKER_HOST:-""}
 DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME=${DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME:-"kube-dev"}
-readonly DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER=${DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER:-"virtualbox --virtualbox-memory 4096 --virtualbox-cpu-count -1"}
+readonly DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER=${DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER:-"virtualbox --virtualbox-cpu-count -1"}
 
 # This will canonicalize the path
 KUBE_ROOT=$(cd $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/.. && pwd -P)
@@ -219,16 +219,28 @@ function kube::build::docker_available_on_osx() {
 
 function kube::build::prepare_docker_machine() {
   kube::log::status "docker-machine was found."
+
+  local available_memory_bytes=$(sysctl -n hw.memsize 2>/dev/null)
+
+  local bytes_in_mb=1048576
+
+  # Give virtualbox 1/2 the system memory. Its necessary to divide by 2, instead
+  # of multiple by .5, because bash can only multiply by ints.
+  local memory_divisor=2
+
+  local virtualbox_memory_mb=$(( ${available_memory_bytes} / (${bytes_in_mb} * ${memory_divisor}) ))
+
   docker-machine inspect "${DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME}" &> /dev/null || {
     kube::log::status "Creating a machine to build Kubernetes"
     docker-machine create --driver ${DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER} \
+      --virtualbox-memory "${virtualbox_memory_mb}" \
       --engine-env HTTP_PROXY="${KUBERNETES_HTTP_PROXY:-}" \
       --engine-env HTTPS_PROXY="${KUBERNETES_HTTPS_PROXY:-}" \
       --engine-env NO_PROXY="${KUBERNETES_NO_PROXY:-127.0.0.1}" \
       "${DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME}" > /dev/null || {
       kube::log::error "Something went wrong creating a machine."
       kube::log::error "Try the following: "
-      kube::log::error "docker-machine create -d ${DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER} ${DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME}"
+      kube::log::error "docker-machine create -d ${DOCKER_MACHINE_DRIVER} --virtualbox-memory ${virtualbox_memory_mb} ${DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME}"
       return 1
     }
   }