diff --git a/garden-service/src/actions.ts b/garden-service/src/actions.ts
index 5356c67d08..8a30c43397 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/actions.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/actions.ts
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ export class ActionHelper implements TypeGuard {
   /**
    * Checks environment status and calls prepareEnvironment for each provider that isn't flagged as ready.
    *
-   * If any of the getEnvironmentStatus handlers returns needUserInput=true, this throws and guides the user to
+   * If any of the getEnvironmentStatus handlers returns needManualInit=true, this throws and guides the user to
    * run `garden init`
    */
   async prepareEnvironment(
@@ -151,13 +151,13 @@ export class ActionHelper implements TypeGuard {
     const entry = log.info({ section: "providers", msg: "Getting status...", status: "active" })
     const statuses = await this.getEnvironmentStatus({ pluginName, log: entry })
 
-    const needUserInput = Object.entries(statuses)
+    const needManualInit = Object.entries(statuses)
       .map(([name, status]) => ({ ...status, name }))
-      .filter(status => status.needUserInput === true)
+      .filter(status => status.needManualInit === true)
 
-    if (!allowUserInput && needUserInput.length > 0) {
-      const names = needUserInput.map(s => s.name).join(", ")
-      const msgPrefix = needUserInput.length === 1
+    if (!allowUserInput && needManualInit.length > 0) {
+      const names = needManualInit.map(s => s.name).join(", ")
+      const msgPrefix = needManualInit.length === 1
         ? `Plugin ${names} has been updated or hasn't been configured, and requires user input.`
         : `Plugins ${names} have been updated or haven't been configured, and require user input.`
 
diff --git a/garden-service/src/plugins/kubernetes/init.ts b/garden-service/src/plugins/kubernetes/init.ts
index 320633f680..d8d62597be 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/plugins/kubernetes/init.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/plugins/kubernetes/init.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ export async function getEnvironmentStatus(
   }
 
   const systemServiceNames = k8sCtx.provider.config._systemServices
+  let needManualInit = false
 
   if (systemServiceNames.length > 0) {
     // Check Tiller status in system namespace
@@ -80,6 +81,10 @@ export async function getEnvironmentStatus(
 
     systemReady = systemTillerReady && systemServiceStatuses.ready && sysNamespaceUpToDate
     dashboardPages = systemServiceStatuses.dashboardPages
+
+    // We always require manual init if we're installing any system services to remote clusters, to avoid conflicts
+    // between users or unnecessary work.
+    needManualInit = true
   }
 
   const detail = { systemReady, projectReady }
@@ -88,6 +93,7 @@ export async function getEnvironmentStatus(
     ready: projectReady && systemReady,
     detail,
     dashboardPages,
+    needManualInit,
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/getEnvironmentStatus.ts b/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/getEnvironmentStatus.ts
index 0291596f42..b1b7cc9f9d 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/getEnvironmentStatus.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/getEnvironmentStatus.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export interface GetEnvironmentStatusParams extends PluginActionParamsBase { }
 
 export interface EnvironmentStatus {
   ready: boolean
-  needUserInput?: boolean
+  needManualInit?: boolean
   dashboardPages?: DashboardPage[]
   detail?: any
 }
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export const environmentStatusSchema = Joi.object()
     ready: Joi.boolean()
       .required()
       .description("Set to true if the environment is fully configured for a provider."),
-    needUserInput: Joi.boolean()
+    needManualInit: Joi.boolean()
       .description(
         "Set to true if the environment needs user input to be initialized, " +
         "and thus needs to be initialized via `garden init`.",
@@ -50,10 +50,9 @@ export const getEnvironmentStatus = {
     Called before \`prepareEnvironment\`. If this returns \`ready: true\`, the
     \`prepareEnvironment\` action is not called.
 
-    If this returns \`needUserInput: true\`, the process may throw an error and guide the user to
-    run \`garden init\`, so that \`prepareEnvironment\` can safely ask for user input. Otherwise the
-    \`prepareEnvironment\` handler may be run implicitly ahead of actions like \`deployService\`,
-    \`runModule\` etc.
+    If this returns \`needManualInit: true\`, the process may throw an error and guide the user to
+    run \`garden init\`. Otherwise the \`prepareEnvironment\` handler may be run implicitly ahead of
+    actions like \`deployService\`, \`runModule\` etc.
   `,
   paramsSchema: actionParamsSchema,
   resultSchema: environmentStatusSchema,
diff --git a/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/prepareEnvironment.ts b/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/prepareEnvironment.ts
index b6a9511eab..881251919a 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/prepareEnvironment.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/types/plugin/provider/prepareEnvironment.ts
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ export const prepareEnvironment = {
 
     Called ahead of any service runtime actions (such as \`deployService\`,
     \`runModule\` and \`testModule\`), unless \`getEnvironmentStatus\` returns \`ready: true\` or
-    \`needUserInput: true\`.
+    \`needManualInit: true\`.
 
     Important: If your handler does require user input, please be sure to indicate that via the
-    \`getEnvironmentStatus\` handler. If this provider's \`getEnvironmentStatus\` returns \`needUserInput: true\`,
+    \`getEnvironmentStatus\` handler. If this provider's \`getEnvironmentStatus\` returns \`needManualInit: true\`,
     this is only called via the \`garden init\` command, so that the handler can safely request user input via
     the CLI.
   `,