diff --git a/common/test.py b/common/test.py
index 1039625..46911f0 100644
--- a/common/test.py
+++ b/common/test.py
@@ -250,9 +250,9 @@
 
     def _verify_status(self, stack, stack_identifier, status, fail_regexp):
         if stack.stack_status == status:
-            # Handle UPDATE_COMPLETE case: Make sure we don't
-            # wait for a stale UPDATE_COMPLETE status.
-            if status == 'UPDATE_COMPLETE':
+            # Handle UPDATE_COMPLETE/FAILED case: Make sure we don't
+            # wait for a stale UPDATE_COMPLETE/FAILED status.
+            if status in ('UPDATE_FAILED', 'UPDATE_COMPLETE'):
                 if self.updated_time.get(
                         stack_identifier) != stack.updated_time:
                     self.updated_time[stack_identifier] = stack.updated_time
@@ -263,8 +263,8 @@
         wait_for_action = status.split('_')[0]
         if (stack.action == wait_for_action and
                 fail_regexp.search(stack.stack_status)):
-            # Handle UPDATE_FAILED case.
-            if status == 'UPDATE_FAILED':
+            # Handle UPDATE_COMPLETE/UPDATE_FAILED case.
+            if status in ('UPDATE_FAILED', 'UPDATE_COMPLETE'):
                 if self.updated_time.get(
                         stack_identifier) != stack.updated_time:
                     self.updated_time[stack_identifier] = stack.updated_time
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@
                     stack_status_reason=stack.stack_status_reason)
 
     def _wait_for_stack_status(self, stack_identifier, status,
-                               failure_pattern='^.*_FAILED$',
+                               failure_pattern=None,
                                success_on_not_found=False):
         """
         Waits for a Stack to reach a given status.
@@ -288,7 +288,13 @@
         CREATE_COMPLETE, not just COMPLETE which is exposed
         via the status property of Stack in heatclient
         """
-        fail_regexp = re.compile(failure_pattern)
+        if failure_pattern:
+            fail_regexp = re.compile(failure_pattern)
+        elif 'FAILED' in status:
+            # If we're looking for e.g CREATE_FAILED, COMPLETE is unexpected.
+            fail_regexp = re.compile('^.*_COMPLETE$')
+        else:
+            fail_regexp = re.compile('^.*_FAILED$')
         build_timeout = self.conf.build_timeout
         build_interval = self.conf.build_interval
 
@@ -335,6 +341,8 @@
         build_timeout = self.conf.build_timeout
         build_interval = self.conf.build_interval
         start = timeutils.utcnow()
+        self.updated_time[stack_identifier] = self.client.stacks.get(
+            stack_identifier).updated_time
         while timeutils.delta_seconds(start,
                                       timeutils.utcnow()) < build_timeout:
             try: