diff --git a/pkg/build/apis/build/types.go b/pkg/build/apis/build/types.go
index 3a92c2b262d1..279d55286035 100644
--- a/pkg/build/apis/build/types.go
+++ b/pkg/build/apis/build/types.go
@@ -514,6 +514,9 @@ const (
 	// range of build failures.
 	StatusReasonGenericBuildFailed StatusReason = "GenericBuildFailed"
 
+	// StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled indicates that the build pod was killed for its memory consumption
+	StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled StatusReason = "OutOfMemoryKilled"
+
 	// StatusCannotRetrieveServiceAccount is the reason associated with a failure
 	// to look up the service account associated with the BuildConfig.
 	StatusReasonCannotRetrieveServiceAccount StatusReason = "CannotRetrieveServiceAccount"
@@ -540,6 +543,7 @@ const (
 	StatusMessageNoBuildContainerStatus          = "The pod for this build has no container statuses indicating success or failure."
 	StatusMessageFailedContainer                 = "The pod for this build has at least one container with a non-zero exit status."
 	StatusMessageGenericBuildFailed              = "Generic Build failure - check logs for details."
+	StatusMessageOutOfMemoryKilled               = "The build pod was killed due to an out of memory condition."
 	StatusMessageUnresolvableEnvironmentVariable = "Unable to resolve build environment variable reference."
 	StatusMessageCannotRetrieveServiceAccount    = "Unable to look up the service account secrets for this build."
 )
diff --git a/pkg/build/controller/build/build_controller.go b/pkg/build/controller/build/build_controller.go
index 66520be4dce6..65037820b5d4 100644
--- a/pkg/build/controller/build/build_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/build/controller/build/build_controller.go
@@ -1001,7 +1001,9 @@ func (bc *BuildController) handleActiveBuild(build *buildapi.Build, pod *v1.Pod)
 			}
 		}
 	case v1.PodFailed:
-		if build.Status.Phase != buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed {
+		if isOOMKilled(pod) {
+			update = transitionToPhase(buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed, buildapi.StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled, buildapi.StatusMessageOutOfMemoryKilled)
+		} else if build.Status.Phase != buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed {
 			// If a DeletionTimestamp has been set, it means that the pod will
 			// soon be deleted. The build should be transitioned to the Error phase.
 			if pod.DeletionTimestamp != nil {
@@ -1014,11 +1016,33 @@ func (bc *BuildController) handleActiveBuild(build *buildapi.Build, pod *v1.Pod)
 	return update, nil
 }
 
+func isOOMKilled(pod *v1.Pod) bool {
+	if pod.Status.Reason == "OOMKilled" {
+		return true
+	}
+	for _, c := range pod.Status.InitContainerStatuses {
+		terminated := c.State.Terminated
+		if terminated != nil && terminated.Reason == "OOMKilled" {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	for _, c := range pod.Status.ContainerStatuses {
+		terminated := c.State.Terminated
+		if terminated != nil && terminated.Reason == "OOMKilled" {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // handleCompletedBuild will only be called on builds that are already in a terminal phase.  It is used to setup the
 // completion timestamp and failure logsnippet as needed.
 func (bc *BuildController) handleCompletedBuild(build *buildapi.Build, pod *v1.Pod) (*buildUpdate, error) {
 
 	update := &buildUpdate{}
+	if isOOMKilled(pod) {
+		update = transitionToPhase(buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed, buildapi.StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled, buildapi.StatusMessageOutOfMemoryKilled)
+	}
 	setBuildCompletionData(build, pod, update)
 
 	return update, nil
diff --git a/pkg/build/registry/build/strategy.go b/pkg/build/registry/build/strategy.go
index 8610e2414231..e2381004e5a2 100644
--- a/pkg/build/registry/build/strategy.go
+++ b/pkg/build/registry/build/strategy.go
@@ -53,7 +53,11 @@ func (strategy) PrepareForUpdate(ctx context.Context, obj, old runtime.Object) {
 	// of the reason and message. This is to prevent the build controller from
 	// overwriting the reason and message that was set by the builder pod
 	// when it updated the build's details.
-	if oldBuild.Status.Phase == buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed {
+	// Only allow OOMKilled override because various processes in a container
+	// can get OOMKilled and this confuses builder to prematurely populate
+	// failure reason
+	if oldBuild.Status.Phase == buildapi.BuildPhaseFailed &&
+		newBuild.Status.Reason != buildapi.StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled {
 		newBuild.Status.Reason = oldBuild.Status.Reason
 		newBuild.Status.Message = oldBuild.Status.Message
 	}
diff --git a/test/extended/builds/failure_status.go b/test/extended/builds/failure_status.go
index 68b118cdd5dd..585768e0a910 100644
--- a/test/extended/builds/failure_status.go
+++ b/test/extended/builds/failure_status.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ var _ = g.Describe("[Feature:Builds][Slow] update failure status", func() {
 		fetchDockerSrc        = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-fetchsourcedocker.yaml")
 		fetchS2ISrc           = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-fetchsources2i.yaml")
 		badContextDirS2ISrc   = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-badcontextdirs2i.yaml")
+		oomkilled             = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-oomkilled.yaml")
 		builderImageFixture   = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-fetchbuilderimage.yaml")
 		pushToRegistryFixture = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-pushtoregistry.yaml")
 		failedAssembleFixture = exutil.FixturePath("testdata", "builds", "statusfail-failedassemble.yaml")
@@ -130,6 +131,32 @@ var _ = g.Describe("[Feature:Builds][Slow] update failure status", func() {
 			})
 		})
 
+		g.Describe("Build status OutOfMemoryKilled", func() {
+			g.It("should contain OutOfMemoryKilled failure reason and message", func() {
+				err := oc.Run("create").Args("-f", oomkilled).Execute()
+				o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+				br, err := exutil.StartBuildAndWait(oc, "statusfail-oomkilled", "--build-loglevel=5")
+				o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+				br.AssertFailure()
+				br.DumpLogs()
+
+				var build *buildapi.Build
+				wait.PollImmediate(200*time.Millisecond, 30*time.Second, func() (bool, error) {
+					build, err = oc.BuildClient().Build().Builds(oc.Namespace()).Get(br.Build.Name, metav1.GetOptions{})
+					if build.Status.Reason != buildapi.StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled {
+						return false, nil
+					}
+					return true, nil
+				})
+				o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+				o.Expect(build.Status.Reason).To(o.Equal(buildapi.StatusReasonOutOfMemoryKilled))
+				o.Expect(build.Status.Message).To(o.Equal(buildapi.StatusMessageOutOfMemoryKilled))
+
+				exutil.CheckForBuildEvent(oc.KubeClient().Core(), br.Build, buildapi.BuildFailedEventReason, buildapi.BuildFailedEventMessage)
+			})
+		})
+
 		g.Describe("Build status S2I bad context dir failure", func() {
 			g.It("should contain the S2I bad context dir failure reason and message", func() {
 				err := oc.Run("create").Args("-f", badContextDirS2ISrc).Execute()
diff --git a/test/extended/testdata/bindata.go b/test/extended/testdata/bindata.go
index 565b03bdee70..dd9b96ced4ab 100644
--- a/test/extended/testdata/bindata.go
+++ b/test/extended/testdata/bindata.go
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-fetchsourcedocker.yaml
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-fetchsources2i.yaml
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-genericreason.yaml
+// test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-postcommithook.yaml
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-pushtoregistry.yaml
 // test/extended/testdata/builds/sti-environment-build-app/.sti/environment
@@ -1973,6 +1974,40 @@ func testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailGenericreasonYaml() (*asset, error) {
 	return a, nil
 }
 
+var _testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYaml = []byte(`kind: BuildConfig
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: statusfail-oomkilled
+spec:
+  resources:
+    limits:
+      memory: 10Mi
+  source:
+    git:
+      uri: "https://github.com/openshift/ruby-hello-world"
+  strategy:
+    type: Source
+    sourceStrategy:
+      from:
+        kind: DockerImage
+        name: centos/ruby-23-centos7:latest
+`)
+
+func testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYamlBytes() ([]byte, error) {
+	return _testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYaml, nil
+}
+
+func testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYaml() (*asset, error) {
+	bytes, err := testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYamlBytes()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	info := bindataFileInfo{name: "test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml", size: 0, mode: os.FileMode(0), modTime: time.Unix(0, 0)}
+	a := &asset{bytes: bytes, info: info}
+	return a, nil
+}
+
 var _testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailPostcommithookYaml = []byte(`kind: BuildConfig
 apiVersion: v1
 metadata:
@@ -33607,6 +33642,7 @@ var _bindata = map[string]func() (*asset, error){
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-fetchsourcedocker.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailFetchsourcedockerYaml,
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-fetchsources2i.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailFetchsources2iYaml,
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-genericreason.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailGenericreasonYaml,
+	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYaml,
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-postcommithook.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailPostcommithookYaml,
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-pushtoregistry.yaml": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailPushtoregistryYaml,
 	"test/extended/testdata/builds/sti-environment-build-app/.sti/environment": testExtendedTestdataBuildsStiEnvironmentBuildAppStiEnvironment,
@@ -34076,6 +34112,7 @@ var _bintree = &bintree{nil, map[string]*bintree{
 					"statusfail-fetchsourcedocker.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailFetchsourcedockerYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
 					"statusfail-fetchsources2i.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailFetchsources2iYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
 					"statusfail-genericreason.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailGenericreasonYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
+					"statusfail-oomkilled.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailOomkilledYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
 					"statusfail-postcommithook.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailPostcommithookYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
 					"statusfail-pushtoregistry.yaml": &bintree{testExtendedTestdataBuildsStatusfailPushtoregistryYaml, map[string]*bintree{}},
 					"sti-environment-build-app": &bintree{nil, map[string]*bintree{
diff --git a/test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml b/test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..979956675b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/extended/testdata/builds/statusfail-oomkilled.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+kind: BuildConfig
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: statusfail-oomkilled
+spec:
+  resources:
+    limits:
+      memory: 10Mi
+  source:
+    git:
+      uri: "https://github.com/openshift/ruby-hello-world"
+  strategy:
+    type: Source
+    sourceStrategy:
+      from:
+        kind: DockerImage
+        name: centos/ruby-23-centos7:latest