diff --git a/hack/verify-gendocs.sh b/hack/verify-gendocs.sh
index 67db0ea4160..a8db1f2ed3a 100755
--- a/hack/verify-gendocs.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-gendocs.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
 kube::golang::setup_env
-"${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/build-go.sh" cmd/gendocs cmd/genman cmd/genbashcomp
 
 gendocs=$(kube::util::find-binary "gendocs")
 genman=$(kube::util::find-binary "genman")
diff --git a/hack/verify-generated-conversions.sh b/hack/verify-generated-conversions.sh
index 9e619c7b939..5c0bb2efa22 100755
--- a/hack/verify-generated-conversions.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-generated-conversions.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
 kube::golang::setup_env
-"${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/build-go.sh" cmd/genconversion
 
 genconversion=$(kube::util::find-binary "genconversion")
 
diff --git a/hack/verify-generated-deep-copies.sh b/hack/verify-generated-deep-copies.sh
index 20a25089327..373fc7670b8 100755
--- a/hack/verify-generated-deep-copies.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-generated-deep-copies.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
 kube::golang::setup_env
-"${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/build-go.sh" cmd/gendeepcopy
 
 genconversion=$(kube::util::find-binary "gendeepcopy")
 
diff --git a/hack/verify-swagger-spec.sh b/hack/verify-swagger-spec.sh
index 7e92929a2b5..1857614fd65 100755
--- a/hack/verify-swagger-spec.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-swagger-spec.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ _tmp="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
 mkdir -p "${_tmp}"
 cp -a "${SPECROOT}" "${TMP_SPECROOT}"
 
-"${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/build-go.sh"
 "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/update-swagger-spec.sh"
 echo "diffing ${SPECROOT} against freshly generated swagger spec"
 ret=0
diff --git a/hooks/pre-commit b/hooks/pre-commit
index 14663691fba..48965e4d3b6 100755
--- a/hooks/pre-commit
+++ b/hooks/pre-commit
@@ -8,12 +8,22 @@ KUBE_HOOKS_DIR="$(dirname "$(test -L "$0" && echo "$(dirname $0)/$(readlink "$0"
 
 exit_code=0
 
+echo -ne "Checking that it builds... "
+if ! OUT=$("hack/build-go.sh" 2>&1); then
+  echo
+  echo "${red}${OUT}"
+  exit_code=1
+else
+  echo "${green}OK"
+fi
+echo "${reset}"
+
 echo -ne "Checking for files that need gofmt... "
 files_need_gofmt=()
 files=($(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | grep "\.go" | grep -v -e "third_party" -e "Godeps"))
 for file in "${files[@]}"; do
   # Check for files that fail gofmt.
-  diff="$(git show ":${file}" | gofmt -s -d)"
+  diff="$(git show ":${file}" | gofmt -s -d 2>&1)"
   if [[ -n "$diff" ]]; then
     files_need_gofmt+=("${file}")
   fi
@@ -135,4 +145,7 @@ else
 fi
 echo "${reset}"
 
-exit $exit_code
+if [[ "${exit_code}" != 0 ]]; then
+  echo "${red}Aborting commit${reset}"
+fi
+exit ${exit_code}