diff --git a/cluster/images/etcd/Makefile b/cluster/images/etcd/Makefile
index 874f3a86bd1..5bb50126187 100644
--- a/cluster/images/etcd/Makefile
+++ b/cluster/images/etcd/Makefile
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ MANIFEST_IMAGE := $(PUSH_REGISTRY)/etcd
 export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL := enabled
 # golang version should match the golang version from https://github.com/coreos/etcd/releases for the current ETCD_VERSION.
 GOLANG_VERSION?=1.10.4
-GOARM=7
+GOARM?=7
 TEMP_DIR:=$(shell mktemp -d)
 
 ifeq ($(ARCH),amd64)
@@ -97,13 +97,18 @@ else
 
 	# Download etcd in a golang container and cross-compile it statically
 	# For each release create a tmp dir 'etcd_release_tmp_dir' and unpack the release tar there.
+	arch_prefix=""
+        ifeq ($(ARCH),arm)
+		arch_prefix="GOARM=$(GOARM)"
+        endif
+
 	for version in $(BUNDLED_ETCD_VERSIONS); do \
 		etcd_release_tmp_dir=$(shell mktemp -d); \
 		docker run --interactive -v $${etcd_release_tmp_dir}:/etcdbin golang:$(GOLANG_VERSION) /bin/bash -c \
 			"git clone https://github.com/coreos/etcd /go/src/github.com/coreos/etcd \
 			&& cd /go/src/github.com/coreos/etcd \
 			&& git checkout v$${version} \
-			&& GOARM=$(GOARM) GOARCH=$(ARCH) ./build \
+			&& $(arch_prefix) GOARCH=$(ARCH) ./build \
 			&& cp -f bin/$(ARCH)/etcd* bin/etcd* /etcdbin; echo 'done'"; \
 		cp $$etcd_release_tmp_dir/etcd $$etcd_release_tmp_dir/etcdctl $(TEMP_DIR)/; \
 		cp $(TEMP_DIR)/etcd $(TEMP_DIR)/etcd-$$version; \
diff --git a/test/images/Makefile b/test/images/Makefile
index d0d807f2f27..bffba54718f 100644
--- a/test/images/Makefile
+++ b/test/images/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 include  ../../hack/make-rules/Makefile.manifest
 
 REGISTRY ?= gcr.io/kubernetes-e2e-test-images
-GOARM=7
+GOARM ?= 7
 QEMUVERSION=v2.9.1
 GOLANG_VERSION=1.12.6
 export
diff --git a/test/images/image-util.sh b/test/images/image-util.sh
index 974c45121f4..84a21ddba89 100755
--- a/test/images/image-util.sh
+++ b/test/images/image-util.sh
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ build() {
         if [[ $(id -u) != 0 ]]; then
           sudo=sudo
         fi
-        "${sudo}" "${KUBE_ROOT}/third_party/multiarch/qemu-user-static/register/register.sh" --reset
+        ${sudo} "${KUBE_ROOT}/third_party/multiarch/qemu-user-static/register/register.sh" --reset
         curl -sSL https://github.com/multiarch/qemu-user-static/releases/download/"${QEMUVERSION}"/x86_64_qemu-"${QEMUARCHS[$arch]}"-static.tar.gz | tar -xz -C "${temp_dir}"
         # Ensure we don't get surprised by umask settings
         chmod 0755 "${temp_dir}/qemu-${QEMUARCHS[$arch]}-static"
@@ -140,13 +140,17 @@ push() {
 
 # This function is for building the go code
 bin() {
+  local arch_prefix=""
+  if [[ "${ARCH}" == "arm" ]]; then
+    arch_prefix="GOARM=${GOARM:-7}"
+  fi
   for SRC in $@;
   do
   docker run --rm -it -v "${TARGET}:${TARGET}:Z" -v "${KUBE_ROOT}":/go/src/k8s.io/kubernetes:Z \
         golang:"${GOLANG_VERSION}" \
         /bin/bash -c "\
                 cd /go/src/k8s.io/kubernetes/test/images/${SRC_DIR} && \
-                CGO_ENABLED=0 GOARM=${GOARM} GOARCH=${ARCH} go build -a -installsuffix cgo --ldflags '-w' -o ${TARGET}/${SRC} ./$(dirname "${SRC}")"
+                CGO_ENABLED=0 ${arch_prefix} GOARCH=${ARCH} go build -a -installsuffix cgo --ldflags '-w' -o ${TARGET}/${SRC} ./$(dirname "${SRC}")"
   done
 }
 
diff --git a/test/images/regression-issue-74839/Makefile b/test/images/regression-issue-74839/Makefile
index 930b25f1abe..bace6da6235 100644
--- a/test/images/regression-issue-74839/Makefile
+++ b/test/images/regression-issue-74839/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 SRCS=regression-issue-74839
 ARCH ?= amd64
 TARGET ?= $(CURDIR)
-GOARM = 7
+GOARM ?= 7
 GOLANG_VERSION ?= latest
 SRC_DIR = $(notdir $(shell pwd))