diff --git a/api/cmd/api/setup.go b/api/cmd/api/setup.go
index 99d58e28b..afafc899b 100644
--- a/api/cmd/api/setup.go
+++ b/api/cmd/api/setup.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
@@ -98,6 +99,11 @@ func initImageBuilder(cfg *config.Config) (webserviceBuilder imagebuilder.ImageB
 		log.Panicf("%s, unable to initialize image builder", err.Error())
 	}
 
+	_, err = kubeClient.CoreV1().Pods("").List(context.Background(), metav1.ListOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Panicf("%s, error sending request to kube client at startup to verify connection", err.Error())
+	}
+
 	timeout, err := time.ParseDuration(cfg.ImageBuilderConfig.BuildTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Panicf("unable to parse image builder timeout to time.Duration %s", cfg.ImageBuilderConfig.BuildTimeout)