diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
index 905394a027d9..7da44b234deb 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # This file creates a standard build environment for building cross
 # platform go binary for the architecture kubernetes cares about.
 
-FROM  golang:1.4
+FROM  golang:1.4.2
 MAINTAINER  Joe Beda <jbeda@google.com>
 
 ENV KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS \
diff --git a/build/common.sh b/build/common.sh
index cbc681f707c5..1b858a38bce0 100755
--- a/build/common.sh
+++ b/build/common.sh
@@ -480,7 +480,9 @@ function kube::build::build_image() {
   kube::version::save_version_vars "${build_context_dir}/kube-version-defs"
 
   cp build/build-image/Dockerfile ${build_context_dir}/Dockerfile
-  kube::build::docker_build "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE}" "${build_context_dir}"
+  # We don't want to force-pull this image because it's based on a local image
+  # (see kube::build::build_image_cross), not upstream.
+  kube::build::docker_build "${KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE}" "${build_context_dir}" 'false'
 }
 
 # Build the kubernetes golang cross base image.
@@ -496,10 +498,12 @@ function kube::build::build_image_cross() {
 # Build a docker image from a Dockerfile.
 # $1 is the name of the image to build
 # $2 is the location of the "context" directory, with the Dockerfile at the root.
+# $3 is the value to set the --pull flag for docker build; true by default
 function kube::build::docker_build() {
   local -r image=$1
   local -r context_dir=$2
-  local -ra build_cmd=("${DOCKER[@]}" build -t "${image}" "${context_dir}")
+  local -r pull="${3:-true}"
+  local -ra build_cmd=("${DOCKER[@]}" build -t "${image}" "--pull=${pull}" "${context_dir}")
 
   kube::log::status "Building Docker image ${image}."
   local docker_output