diff --git a/cmd/eksctl/create.go b/cmd/eksctl/create.go
index 0c0754d2ba5..b9bc91a3d2c 100644
--- a/cmd/eksctl/create.go
+++ b/cmd/eksctl/create.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -82,7 +81,9 @@ func createClusterCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	fs.StringVar(&kubeconfigPath, "kubeconfig", kubeconfig.DefaultPath, "path to write kubeconfig (incompatible with --auto-kubeconfig)")
 	fs.BoolVar(&setContext, "set-kubeconfig-context", true, "if true then current-context will be set in kubeconfig; if a context is already set then it will be overwritten")
 
-	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.AWSOperationTimeout, "aws-api-timeout", 20*time.Minute, "number of seconds after which to timeout AWS API operations")
+	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.WaitTimeout, "aws-api-timeout", eks.DefaultWaitTimeout, "")
+	fs.MarkHidden("aws-api-timeout") // TODO deprecate in 0.2.0
+	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.WaitTimeout, "timeout", eks.DefaultWaitTimeout, "how long to wait for any of the timely operations")
 
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.Addons.WithIAM.PolicyAmazonEC2ContainerRegistryPowerUser, "full-ecr-access", false, "enable full access to ECR")
 
@@ -162,6 +163,10 @@ func doCreateCluster(cfg *eks.ClusterConfig, name string) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		if err := cfg.WaitForControlPlane(clientSet); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		// authorise nodes to join
 		if err := cfg.CreateDefaultNodeGroupAuthConfigMap(clientSet); err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/cmd/eksctl/utils.go b/cmd/eksctl/utils.go
index 2d8bf2329d4..70db5db36e1 100644
--- a/cmd/eksctl/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/eksctl/utils.go
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ func waitNodesCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	fs := cmd.Flags()
 
 	fs.StringVar(&utilsKubeconfigInputPath, "kubeconfig", "kubeconfig", "path to read kubeconfig")
-	fs.IntVarP(&cfg.MinNodes, "nodes-min", "m", DEFAULT_NODE_COUNT, "minimum nodes to wait for")
+	fs.IntVarP(&cfg.MinNodes, "nodes-min", "m", DEFAULT_NODE_COUNT, "minimum number of nodes to wait for")
+	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.WaitTimeout, "timeout", eks.DefaultWaitTimeout, "how long to wait")
 
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/pkg/eks/api.go b/pkg/eks/api.go
index 52972055dbf..679a1a7d770 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/api.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/api.go
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ const (
 	AWSDebugLevel  = 5
 )
 
+var DefaultWaitTimeout = 20 * time.Minute
+
 type ClusterProvider struct {
 	// core fields used for config and AWS APIs
 	cfg *ClusterConfig
@@ -61,7 +63,7 @@ type ClusterConfig struct {
 	SSHPublicKeyPath string
 	SSHPublicKey     []byte
 
-	AWSOperationTimeout time.Duration
+	WaitTimeout time.Duration
 
 	keyName        string
 	clusterRoleARN string
diff --git a/pkg/eks/cfn.go b/pkg/eks/cfn.go
index 11bbe28f667..189491f71e0 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/cfn.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/cfn.go
@@ -64,14 +64,14 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) CreateStack(name string, templateBody []byte, paramete
 		ticker := time.NewTicker(20 * time.Second)
 		defer ticker.Stop()
 
-		timer := time.NewTimer(c.cfg.AWSOperationTimeout)
+		timer := time.NewTimer(c.cfg.WaitTimeout)
 		defer timer.Stop()
 
 		defer close(errs)
 		for {
 			select {
 			case <-timer.C:
-				errs <- fmt.Errorf("timed out creating CloudFormation stack %q after %d", name, c.cfg.AWSOperationTimeout)
+				errs <- fmt.Errorf("timed out creating CloudFormation stack %q after %d", name, c.cfg.WaitTimeout)
 				return
 
 			case <-ticker.C:
diff --git a/pkg/eks/eks.go b/pkg/eks/eks.go
index 0b4c1b74a39..7f853a3a9ef 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/eks.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/eks.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/eks"
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) createControlPlane(errs chan error) error {
 		ticker := time.NewTicker(20 * time.Second)
 		defer ticker.Stop()
 
-		timer := time.NewTimer(c.cfg.AWSOperationTimeout)
+		timer := time.NewTimer(c.cfg.WaitTimeout)
 		defer timer.Stop()
 
 		defer close(taskErrs)
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) createControlPlane(errs chan error) error {
 		for {
 			select {
 			case <-timer.C:
-				taskErrs <- fmt.Errorf("timed out creating control plane %q after %s", c.cfg.ClusterName, c.cfg.AWSOperationTimeout)
+				taskErrs <- fmt.Errorf("timed out creating control plane %q after %s", c.cfg.ClusterName, c.cfg.WaitTimeout)
 				return
 
 			case <-ticker.C:
@@ -190,3 +191,28 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) ListAllTaggedResources() error {
 	// TODO: https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/issues/26
 	return nil
 }
+
+func (c *ClusterConfig) WaitForControlPlane(clientSet *kubernetes.Clientset) error {
+	if _, err := clientSet.ServerVersion(); err == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(20 * time.Second)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	timer := time.NewTimer(c.WaitTimeout)
+	defer timer.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			_, err := clientSet.ServerVersion()
+			if err == nil {
+				return nil
+			}
+			logger.Debug("control plane not ready yet – %s", err.Error())
+		case <-timer.C:
+			return fmt.Errorf("timed out waiting for control plane %q after %s", c.ClusterName, c.WaitTimeout)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/eks/nodegroup.go b/pkg/eks/nodegroup.go
index 8956062400b..baae93109b6 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/nodegroup.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/nodegroup.go
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ func getNodes(clientSet *clientset.Clientset) (int, error) {
 }
 
 func (c *ClusterConfig) WaitForNodes(clientSet *clientset.Clientset) error {
-	timeoutAfter := 20 * time.Minute
-	timer := time.After(timeoutAfter)
+	timer := time.After(c.WaitTimeout)
 	timeout := false
 	watcher, err := clientSet.Core().Nodes().Watch(metav1.ListOptions{})
 	if err != nil {
@@ -115,7 +114,7 @@ func (c *ClusterConfig) WaitForNodes(clientSet *clientset.Clientset) error {
 		}
 	}
 	if timeout {
-		return fmt.Errorf("timed out (after %s) waitiing for at least %d nodes to join the cluster and become ready", timeoutAfter, c.MinNodes)
+		return fmt.Errorf("timed out (after %s) waitiing for at least %d nodes to join the cluster and become ready", c.WaitTimeout, c.MinNodes)
 	}
 
 	if _, err = getNodes(clientSet); err != nil {