diff --git a/pkg/controller/build/assets/buildah-build.sh b/pkg/controller/build/assets/buildah-build.sh
index 0c77101ee9..29c1a7fc01 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/build/assets/buildah-build.sh
+++ b/pkg/controller/build/assets/buildah-build.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,25 @@ set -xeuo
 ETC_PKI_ENTITLEMENT_MOUNTPOINT="${ETC_PKI_ENTITLEMENT_MOUNTPOINT:-}"
 ETC_PKI_RPM_GPG_MOUNTPOINT="${ETC_PKI_RPM_GPG_MOUNTPOINT:-}"
 ETC_YUM_REPOS_D_MOUNTPOINT="${ETC_YUM_REPOS_D_MOUNTPOINT:-}"
+MAX_RETRIES="${MAX_RETRIES:-3}"
+
+# Retry a command up to a specific number of times until it exits successfully.
+# Adapted from https://gist.github.com/sj26/88e1c6584397bb7c13bd11108a579746
+function retry {
+  local count=0
+
+  until "$@"; do
+    exit=$?
+    count=$((count + 1))
+    if [ $count -lt $MAX_RETRIES ]; then
+      echo "Retry $count/$MAX_RETRIES exited $exit, retrying..."
+    else
+      echo "Retry $count/$MAX_RETRIES exited $exit, no more retries left."
+      return $exit
+    fi
+  done
+  return 0
+}
 
 build_context="$HOME/context"
 
@@ -69,10 +88,10 @@ if [[ -n "$ETC_PKI_RPM_GPG_MOUNTPOINT" ]] && [[ -d "$ETC_PKI_RPM_GPG_MOUNTPOINT"
 fi
 
 # Build our image.
-buildah bud "${build_args[@]}" "$build_context"
+retry buildah bud "${build_args[@]}" "$build_context"
 
 # Push our built image.
-buildah push \
+retry buildah push \
 	--storage-driver vfs \
 	--authfile="$FINAL_IMAGE_PUSH_CREDS" \
 	--digestfile="/tmp/done/digestfile" \
diff --git a/pkg/controller/build/assets/wait.sh b/pkg/controller/build/assets/wait.sh
index bf1675fe63..e90418f186 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/build/assets/wait.sh
+++ b/pkg/controller/build/assets/wait.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@
 # within the Build Controller binary (see //go:embed) and injected into a
 # custom build pod.
 
-# Wait until the done file appears.
+# Wait until the digestfile file appears. The presence of this file indicates
+# that the build operation is complete.
 while [ ! -f "/tmp/done/digestfile" ]
 do
 	sleep 1
 done
 
+# Inject the contents of the digestfile into a ConfigMap.
 oc create configmap \
 	"$DIGEST_CONFIGMAP_NAME" \
 	--namespace openshift-machine-config-operator \
diff --git a/pkg/controller/build/image_build_request.go b/pkg/controller/build/image_build_request.go
index 6301f4c379..2cc999f79c 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/build/image_build_request.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/build/image_build_request.go
@@ -197,6 +197,17 @@ func (i ImageBuildRequest) toBuildPod() *corev1.Pod {
 // nolint:dupl // I don't want to deduplicate this yet since there are still some unknowns.
 func (i ImageBuildRequest) toBuildahPod() *corev1.Pod {
 	env := []corev1.EnvVar{
+		// How many times the build / push steps should be retried. In the future,
+		// this should be wired up to the MachineOSConfig or other higher-level
+		// API. This is useful for retrying builds / pushes when they fail due to a
+		// transient condition such as a temporary network issue. It does *NOT*
+		// handle situations where the build pod is evicted or rescheduled. A
+		// higher-level abstraction will be needed such as a Kubernetes Job
+		// (https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/job/).
+		{
+			Name:  "MAX_RETRIES",
+			Value: "3",
+		},
 		{
 			Name:  "DIGEST_CONFIGMAP_NAME",
 			Value: i.getDigestConfigMapName(),