diff --git a/build/build-image/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
index 4ff8066b98c..3d9e58cfa24 100644
--- a/build/build-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
@@ -14,15 +14,9 @@
 
 # This file creates a standard build environment for building Kubernetes
 
-FROM  golang:1.3
+FROM kube-build:cross
 MAINTAINER  Joe Beda <jbeda@google.com>
 
-ENV KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS \
-  linux/386 linux/arm \
-  darwin/amd64 darwin/386
-
-RUN cd /usr/src/go/src && for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} ./make.bash --no-clean; done
-
 # (set an explicit GOARM of 5 for maximum compatibility)
 ENV GOARM 5
 ENV GOOS    linux
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..926da0148a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This file creates a standard build environment for building cross
+# platform go binary for the architecture kubernetes cares about.
+
+FROM  golang:1.3
+MAINTAINER  Joe Beda <jbeda@google.com>
+
+ENV KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS \
+  linux/386 linux/arm \
+  darwin/amd64 darwin/386
+
+RUN cd /usr/src/go/src && for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} ./make.bash --no-clean; done
diff --git a/build/common.sh b/build/common.sh
index 15a9189f8b6..7a368f09a66 100644
--- a/build/common.sh
+++ b/build/common.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_REPO=kube-build
 # KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_TAG=<hash>
 # KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE="${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_REPO}:${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_TAG}"
 # KUBE_BUILD_CONTAINER_NAME=kube-build-<hash>
+readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG=cross
+readonly KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS="${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_REPO}:${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG}"
 
 readonly KUBE_GO_PACKAGE="github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes"
 
@@ -220,8 +222,8 @@ function kube::build::build_image_built() {
   kube::build::docker_image_exists "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_REPO}" "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_TAG}"
 }
 
-function kube::build::ensure_golang_cross() {
-  kube::build::docker_image_exists golang cross || {
+function kube::build::ensure_golang() {
+  kube::build::docker_image_exists golang 1.3 || {
     [[ ${KUBE_SKIP_CONFIRMATIONS} =~ ^[yY]$ ]] || {
       echo "You don't have a local copy of the golang:cross docker image. This image is 1.8GB."
       read -p "Download it now? [y/n] " -n 1 -r
@@ -232,8 +234,8 @@ function kube::build::ensure_golang_cross() {
       }
     }
 
-    echo "+++ Pulling docker image: golang:cross"
-    docker pull golang:cross
+    echo "+++ Pulling docker image: golang:1.3"
+    docker pull golang:1.3
   }
 }
 
@@ -255,7 +257,7 @@ function kube::build::build_image() {
     third_party
   )
 
-  kube::build::ensure_golang_cross
+  kube::build::build_image_cross
 
   mkdir -p "${build_context_dir}"
   tar czf "${build_context_dir}/kube-source.tar.gz" "${source[@]}"
@@ -266,6 +268,16 @@ EOF
   kube::build::docker_build "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE}" "${build_context_dir}"
 }
 
+# Build the kubernetes golang cross base image.
+function kube::build::build_image_cross() {
+  kube::build::ensure_golang
+
+  local -r build_context_dir="${LOCAL_OUTPUT_ROOT}/images/${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE}/cross"
+  mkdir -p "${build_context_dir}"
+  cp build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile ${build_context_dir}/Dockerfile
+  kube::build::docker_build "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS}" "${build_context_dir}"
+}
+
 # Builds the runtime image.  Assumes that the appropriate binaries are already
 # built and in _output/build/.
 function kube::build::run_image() {