diff --git a/engine/engine.go b/engine/engine.go
index 29552f34a..f3d0c0c22 100644
--- a/engine/engine.go
+++ b/engine/engine.go
@@ -329,6 +329,11 @@ func (e *engine) runJob(c context.Context, r *Task, updater *updater, client doc
 	info, builderr := docker.Wait(client, name)
 
 	switch {
+	case info.State.Running:
+		// A build unblocked before actually being completed.
+		log.Errorf("incomplete build: %s", name)
+		r.Job.ExitCode = 1
+		r.Job.Status = model.StatusError
 	case info.State.ExitCode == 128:
 		r.Job.ExitCode = info.State.ExitCode
 		r.Job.Status = model.StatusKilled
diff --git a/shared/docker/docker.go b/shared/docker/docker.go
index 29ed10613..e08ec95e7 100644
--- a/shared/docker/docker.go
+++ b/shared/docker/docker.go
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package docker
 
 import (
-	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"errors"
 
+	log "github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/samalba/dockerclient"
 )
 
@@ -77,33 +77,21 @@ func Wait(client dockerclient.Client, name string) (*dockerclient.ContainerInfo,
 		client.KillContainer(name, "9")
 	}()
 
-	errc := make(chan error, 1)
-	infoc := make(chan *dockerclient.ContainerInfo, 1)
-	go func() {
-
-		// blocks and waits for the container to finish
-		// by streaming the logs (to /dev/null). Ideally
-		// we could use the `wait` function instead
-		rc, err := client.ContainerLogs(name, LogOptsTail)
-		if err != nil {
-			errc <- err
-			return
-		}
-		io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, rc)
-		rc.Close()
+	for attempts := 0; attempts < 5; attempts++ {
+		done := client.Wait(name)
+		<-done
 
 		info, err := client.InspectContainer(name)
 		if err != nil {
-			errc <- err
-			return
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		infoc <- info
-	}()
 
-	select {
-	case info := <-infoc:
-		return info, nil
-	case err := <-errc:
-		return nil, err
+		if !info.State.Running {
+			return info, nil
+		}
+
+		log.Debugf("attempting to resume waiting after %d attempts.\n", attempts)
 	}
+
+	return nil, errors.New("reached maximum wait attempts")
 }