diff --git a/.eslintrc.js b/.eslintrc.js
index 81685cf797be6..281c1cf4e498e 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/.eslintrc.js
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ module.exports = {
     },
 
     /**
-     * files that ARE NOT allowed to use devDepenedncies
+     * Files that ARE NOT allowed to use devDependencies
      */
     {
       files: ['packages/kbn-ui-framework/**/*', 'x-pack/**/*'],
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ module.exports = {
     },
 
     /**
-     * files that ARE allowed to use devDepenedncies
+     * Files that ARE allowed to use devDependencies
      */
     {
       files: [
@@ -138,7 +138,43 @@ module.exports = {
     },
 
     /**
-     * Files that are not transpiled with babel
+     * Files that run BEFORE node version check
+     */
+    {
+      files: [
+        'scripts/**/*',
+        'src/setup_node_env/**/*',
+        'src/utils/node_version.js',
+      ],
+      rules: {
+        'import/no-commonjs': 'off',
+        'prefer-object-spread/prefer-object-spread': 'off',
+        'no-var': 'off',
+        'prefer-const': 'off',
+        'prefer-destructuring': 'off',
+        'no-restricted-syntax': [
+          'error',
+          'ImportDeclaration',
+          'ExportNamedDeclaration',
+          'ExportDefaultDeclaration',
+          'ExportAllDeclaration',
+          'ArrowFunctionExpression',
+          'AwaitExpression',
+          'ClassDeclaration',
+          'RestElement',
+          'SpreadElement',
+          'YieldExpression',
+          'VariableDeclaration[kind="const"]',
+          'VariableDeclaration[kind="let"]',
+          'VariableDeclarator[id.type="ArrayPattern"]',
+          'VariableDeclarator[id.type="ObjectPattern"]',
+        ],
+      },
+    },
+
+    /**
+     * Files that run AFTER node version check
+     * and are not also transpiled with babel
      */
     {
       files: [
diff --git a/scripts/backport.js b/scripts/backport.js
index 52546548ae8af..34d54d6589c37 100755
--- a/scripts/backport.js
+++ b/scripts/backport.js
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+require('../src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator');
 require('backport');
diff --git a/scripts/es.js b/scripts/es.js
index 556714c51a777..8959dc218cc51 100644
--- a/scripts/es.js
+++ b/scripts/es.js
@@ -1,16 +1,18 @@
-const path = require('path');
-const pkg = require('../package.json');
-const kbnEs = require('@kbn/es');
+var resolve = require('path').resolve;
+var pkg = require('../package.json');
+var kbnEs = require('@kbn/es');
+
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
 
 kbnEs
   .run({
     license: 'basic',
     password: 'changeme',
     version: pkg.version,
-    'source-path': path.resolve(__dirname, '../../elasticsearch'),
-    'base-path': path.resolve(__dirname, '../.es'),
+    'source-path': resolve(__dirname, '../../elasticsearch'),
+    'base-path': resolve(__dirname, '../.es'),
   })
-  .catch(e => {
+  .catch(function (e) {
     console.error(e);
     process.exitCode = 1;
   });
diff --git a/scripts/generate_plugin.js b/scripts/generate_plugin.js
index cb9f2c8cf1f6a..6161e11f99214 100644
--- a/scripts/generate_plugin.js
+++ b/scripts/generate_plugin.js
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
 require('@kbn/plugin-generator').run(process.argv.slice(2));
diff --git a/scripts/jest.js b/scripts/jest.js
index 65e4fb754394e..d4d6c47d47159 100755
--- a/scripts/jest.js
+++ b/scripts/jest.js
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/* eslint-disable no-var */
-
 // # Run Jest tests
 //
 // All args will be forwarded directly to Jest, e.g. to watch tests run:
diff --git a/scripts/jest_integration.js b/scripts/jest_integration.js
index a8c83fc16b181..143148f903266 100755
--- a/scripts/jest_integration.js
+++ b/scripts/jest_integration.js
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/* eslint-disable no-var */
-
 // # Run Jest integration tests
 //
 // All args will be forwarded directly to Jest, e.g. to watch tests run:
diff --git a/scripts/kbn.js b/scripts/kbn.js
index b4aa213f017df..750e51a66e4d7 100644
--- a/scripts/kbn.js
+++ b/scripts/kbn.js
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
 require('../packages/kbn-pm/cli');
 
diff --git a/scripts/makelogs.js b/scripts/makelogs.js
index b1cc91bfb0e73..aed9d77ec3754 100644
--- a/scripts/makelogs.js
+++ b/scripts/makelogs.js
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+require('../src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator');
 require('makelogs');
diff --git a/scripts/tslint.js b/scripts/tslint.js
index 74613741b9119..5b96e8e17b48b 100644
--- a/scripts/tslint.js
+++ b/scripts/tslint.js
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-require('../src/babel-register');
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
 require('../src/dev/tslint').runTslintCli();
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/index.js b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/index.js
index 0f503322ebe68..2827283e204a7 100644
--- a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/index.js
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/index.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // unless we are running a prebuilt/distributable version of
 // kibana, automatically transpile typescript to js before babel
 if (!global.__BUILT_WITH_BABEL__) {
-  const { resolve } = require('path');
+  var resolve = require('path').resolve;
   require('ts-node').register({
     transpileOnly: true,
     cacheDirectory: resolve(__dirname, '../../../optimize/.cache/ts-node')
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ if (!global.__BUILT_WITH_BABEL__) {
 
 // register and polyfill need to happen in this
 // order and in separate files. Checkout each file
-// for a much more detailed explaination
+// for a much more detailed explanation
 require('./register');
 require('./polyfill');
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/polyfill.js b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/polyfill.js
index fedca3745ba87..e1879af99bc1a 100644
--- a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/polyfill.js
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/polyfill.js
@@ -7,4 +7,4 @@
 //
 // This is why we have this single statement in it's own file and require
 // it from ./index.js
-import 'babel-polyfill';
+require('babel-polyfill');
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/register.js b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/register.js
index 9f7be83bba41d..23f63a87eac41 100644
--- a/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/register.js
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/babel_register/register.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const { resolve } = require('path');
+var resolve = require('path').resolve;
 
 // this must happen before `require('babel-register')` and can't be changed
 // once the module has been loaded
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ if (!process.env.BABEL_CACHE_PATH) {
 }
 
 // paths that babel-register should ignore
-const ignore = [
+var ignore = [
   /\/bower_components\//,
   /\/kbn-pm\/dist\//,
 
diff --git a/src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator.js b/src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator.js
index a0013062a491e..6762b19d208c2 100644
--- a/src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator.js
+++ b/src/setup_node_env/node_version_validator.js
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/* eslint-disable no-var */
-
 // Note: This is written in ES5 so we can run this before anything else
 // and gives support for older NodeJS versions
 var NodeVersion = require('../utils/node_version');
diff --git a/src/utils/node_version.js b/src/utils/node_version.js
index 335e151f6d80f..975477c145836 100644
--- a/src/utils/node_version.js
+++ b/src/utils/node_version.js
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/* eslint-disable no-var */
-
 var _ = require('lodash');
 var semver = require('semver');
 var pkg = require('../../package.json');