diff --git a/lib/resourcebuilder/interface.go b/lib/resourcebuilder/interface.go
index fb4598ee6c..7566ae0291 100644
--- a/lib/resourcebuilder/interface.go
+++ b/lib/resourcebuilder/interface.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ const (
 	UpdatingMode Mode = iota
 	ReconcilingMode
 	InitializingMode
+	PrecreatingMode
 )
 
 type Interface interface {
diff --git a/pkg/cvo/cvo.go b/pkg/cvo/cvo.go
index a2ab841700..94a466dc8c 100644
--- a/pkg/cvo/cvo.go
+++ b/pkg/cvo/cvo.go
@@ -663,7 +663,11 @@ func (b *resourceBuilder) builderFor(m *lib.Manifest, state payload.State) (reso
 	}
 
 	if b.clusterOperators != nil && m.GVK == configv1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("ClusterOperator") {
-		return cvointernal.NewClusterOperatorBuilder(b.clusterOperators, *m), nil
+		client, err := clientset.NewForConfig(config)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return cvointernal.NewClusterOperatorBuilder(b.clusterOperators, client.ConfigV1().ClusterOperators(), *m), nil
 	}
 	if resourcebuilder.Mapper.Exists(m.GVK) {
 		return resourcebuilder.New(resourcebuilder.Mapper, config, *m)
@@ -694,6 +698,8 @@ func stateToMode(state payload.State) resourcebuilder.Mode {
 		return resourcebuilder.UpdatingMode
 	case payload.ReconcilingPayload:
 		return resourcebuilder.ReconcilingMode
+	case payload.PrecreatingPayload:
+		return resourcebuilder.PrecreatingMode
 	default:
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unexpected payload state %d", int(state)))
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/cvo/internal/operatorstatus.go b/pkg/cvo/internal/operatorstatus.go
index cda58cd74b..5ae3d65b1b 100644
--- a/pkg/cvo/internal/operatorstatus.go
+++ b/pkg/cvo/internal/operatorstatus.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 	"unicode"
 
+	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/serializer"
@@ -48,16 +49,16 @@ func readClusterOperatorV1OrDie(objBytes []byte) *configv1.ClusterOperator {
 }
 
 type clusterOperatorBuilder struct {
-	client   ClusterOperatorsGetter
-	raw      []byte
-	modifier resourcebuilder.MetaV1ObjectModifierFunc
-	mode     resourcebuilder.Mode
+	client       ClusterOperatorsGetter
+	createClient configclientv1.ClusterOperatorInterface
+	raw          []byte
+	modifier     resourcebuilder.MetaV1ObjectModifierFunc
+	mode         resourcebuilder.Mode
 }
 
 func newClusterOperatorBuilder(config *rest.Config, m lib.Manifest) resourcebuilder.Interface {
-	return NewClusterOperatorBuilder(clientClusterOperatorsGetter{
-		getter: configclientv1.NewForConfigOrDie(config).ClusterOperators(),
-	}, m)
+	client := configclientv1.NewForConfigOrDie(config).ClusterOperators()
+	return NewClusterOperatorBuilder(clientClusterOperatorsGetter{getter: client}, client, m)
 }
 
 // ClusterOperatorsGetter abstracts object access with a client or a cache lister.
@@ -75,10 +76,11 @@ func (g clientClusterOperatorsGetter) Get(name string) (*configv1.ClusterOperato
 
 // NewClusterOperatorBuilder accepts the ClusterOperatorsGetter interface which may be implemented by a
 // client or a lister cache.
-func NewClusterOperatorBuilder(client ClusterOperatorsGetter, m lib.Manifest) resourcebuilder.Interface {
+func NewClusterOperatorBuilder(client ClusterOperatorsGetter, createClient configclientv1.ClusterOperatorInterface, m lib.Manifest) resourcebuilder.Interface {
 	return &clusterOperatorBuilder{
-		client: client,
-		raw:    m.Raw,
+		client:       client,
+		createClient: createClient,
+		raw:          m.Raw,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -97,6 +99,26 @@ func (b *clusterOperatorBuilder) Do(ctx context.Context) error {
 	if b.modifier != nil {
 		b.modifier(os)
 	}
+
+	// create the object, and if we successfully created, update the status
+	if b.mode == resourcebuilder.PrecreatingMode {
+		clusterOperator, err := b.createClient.Create(os)
+		if err != nil {
+			if kerrors.IsAlreadyExists(err) {
+				return nil
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+		clusterOperator.Status.RelatedObjects = os.Status.DeepCopy().RelatedObjects
+		if _, err := b.createClient.UpdateStatus(clusterOperator); err != nil {
+			if kerrors.IsConflict(err) {
+				return nil
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	return waitForOperatorStatusToBeDone(ctx, 1*time.Second, b.client, os, b.mode)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cvo/sync_worker.go b/pkg/cvo/sync_worker.go
index cd92d3c23b..9b1cb491b9 100644
--- a/pkg/cvo/sync_worker.go
+++ b/pkg/cvo/sync_worker.go
@@ -585,12 +585,14 @@ func (w *SyncWorker) apply(ctx context.Context, payloadUpdate *payload.Update, w
 	}
 	graph := payload.NewTaskGraph(tasks)
 	graph.Split(payload.SplitOnJobs)
+	var precreateObjects bool
 	switch work.State {
 	case payload.InitializingPayload:
 		// Create every component in parallel to maximize reaching steady
 		// state.
 		graph.Parallelize(payload.FlattenByNumberAndComponent)
 		maxWorkers = len(graph.Nodes)
+		precreateObjects = true
 	case payload.ReconcilingPayload:
 		// Run the graph in random order during reconcile so that we don't
 		// hang on any particular component - we seed from the number of
@@ -608,6 +610,28 @@ func (w *SyncWorker) apply(ctx context.Context, payloadUpdate *payload.Update, w
 		// perform an orderly roll out by payload order, using some parallelization
 		// but avoiding out of order creation so components have some base
 		graph.Parallelize(payload.ByNumberAndComponent)
+		precreateObjects = true
+	}
+
+	// in specific modes, attempt to precreate a set of known types (currently ClusterOperator) without
+	// retries
+	if precreateObjects {
+		payload.RunGraph(ctx, graph, 8, func(ctx context.Context, tasks []*payload.Task) error {
+			for _, task := range tasks {
+				if contextIsCancelled(ctx) {
+					return cr.CancelError()
+				}
+				if task.Manifest.GVK != configv1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("ClusterOperator") {
+					continue
+				}
+				if err := w.builder.Apply(ctx, task.Manifest, payload.PrecreatingPayload); err != nil {
+					klog.V(2).Infof("Unable to precreate resource %s: %v", task, err)
+					continue
+				}
+				klog.V(4).Infof("Precreated resource %s", task)
+			}
+			return nil
+		})
 	}
 
 	// update each object
diff --git a/pkg/payload/payload.go b/pkg/payload/payload.go
index c2c880c8de..b8e170c111 100644
--- a/pkg/payload/payload.go
+++ b/pkg/payload/payload.go
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ const (
 	// Our goal is to get the entire payload created, even if some
 	// operators are still converging.
 	InitializingPayload
+	// PrecreatingPayload indicates we are selectively creating
+	// specific resources during a first pass of the payload to
+	// provide better visibility during install and upgrade of
+	// error conditions.
+	PrecreatingPayload
 )
 
 // Initializing is true if the state is InitializingPayload.