diff --git a/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util.go b/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6baf74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util.go
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package servers
+
+import "github.com/rackspace/gophercloud"
+
+// WaitForStatus will continually poll a server until it successfully transitions to a specified
+// status. It will do this for at most the number of seconds specified.
+func WaitForStatus(c *gophercloud.ServiceClient, id, status string, secs int) error {
+	return gophercloud.WaitFor(secs, func() (bool, error) {
+		current, err := Get(c, id).Extract()
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, err
+		}
+
+		if current.Status == status {
+			return true, nil
+		}
+
+		return false, nil
+	})
+}
diff --git a/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util_test.go b/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e192ae3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openstack/compute/v2/servers/util_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package servers
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	th "github.com/rackspace/gophercloud/testhelper"
+	"github.com/rackspace/gophercloud/testhelper/client"
+)
+
+func TestWaitForStatus(t *testing.T) {
+	th.SetupHTTP()
+	defer th.TeardownHTTP()
+
+	th.Mux.HandleFunc("/servers/4321", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
+		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `
+		{
+			"server": {
+				"name": "the-server",
+				"id": "4321",
+				"status": "ACTIVE"
+			}
+		}`)
+	})
+
+	err := WaitForStatus(client.ServiceClient(), "4321", "ACTIVE", 0)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("Expected error: 'Time Out in WaitFor'")
+	}
+
+	err = WaitForStatus(client.ServiceClient(), "4321", "ACTIVE", 3)
+	th.CheckNoErr(t, err)
+}