diff --git a/garden-service/src/plugins/exec.ts b/garden-service/src/plugins/exec.ts
index 6bc113547d..c057caed1f 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/plugins/exec.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/plugins/exec.ts
@@ -15,13 +15,12 @@ import { createGardenPlugin } from "../types/plugin/plugin"
 import { Module } from "../types/module"
 import { CommonServiceSpec } from "../config/service"
 import { BaseTestSpec, baseTestSpecSchema } from "../config/test"
-import { readModuleVersionFile, writeModuleVersionFile, ModuleVersion } from "../vcs/vcs"
+import { writeModuleVersionFile } from "../vcs/vcs"
 import { GARDEN_BUILD_VERSION_FILENAME } from "../constants"
 import { ModuleSpec, BaseBuildSpec, baseBuildSpecSchema, ModuleConfig } from "../config/module"
 import { BaseTaskSpec, baseTaskSpecSchema } from "../config/task"
 import { dedent } from "../util/string"
 import { ConfigureModuleParams, ConfigureModuleResult } from "../types/plugin/module/configure"
-import { GetBuildStatusParams, BuildStatus } from "../types/plugin/module/getBuildStatus"
 import { BuildModuleParams, BuildResult } from "../types/plugin/module/build"
 import { TestModuleParams } from "../types/plugin/module/testModule"
 import { TestResult } from "../types/plugin/module/getTestResult"
@@ -200,23 +199,6 @@ export async function configureExecModule({
   return { moduleConfig }
 }
 
-export async function getExecModuleBuildStatus({ module }: GetBuildStatusParams): Promise<BuildStatus> {
-  const buildVersionFilePath = join(module.buildMetadataPath, GARDEN_BUILD_VERSION_FILENAME)
-  let builtVersion: ModuleVersion | null = null
-
-  try {
-    builtVersion = await readModuleVersionFile(buildVersionFilePath)
-  } catch (_) {
-    // just ignore this error, can be caused by an outdated format
-  }
-
-  if (builtVersion && builtVersion.versionString === module.version.versionString) {
-    return { ready: true }
-  }
-
-  return { ready: false }
-}
-
 export async function buildExecModule({ module }: BuildModuleParams<ExecModule>): Promise<BuildResult> {
   const output: BuildResult = {}
   const { command } = module.spec.build
@@ -353,7 +335,6 @@ export const execPlugin = createGardenPlugin({
       }),
       handlers: {
         configure: configureExecModule,
-        getBuildStatus: getExecModuleBuildStatus,
         build: buildExecModule,
         runTask: runExecTask,
         testModule: testExecModule,
diff --git a/garden-service/test/unit/src/plugins/exec.ts b/garden-service/test/unit/src/plugins/exec.ts
index 4bd2388a09..56e9d5fdf0 100644
--- a/garden-service/test/unit/src/plugins/exec.ts
+++ b/garden-service/test/unit/src/plugins/exec.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { LogEntry } from "../../../../src/logger/log-entry"
 import { keyBy } from "lodash"
 import { getDataDir, makeTestModule, expectError } from "../../../helpers"
 import { TaskTask } from "../../../../src/tasks/task"
-import { writeModuleVersionFile, readModuleVersionFile } from "../../../../src/vcs/vcs"
+import { readModuleVersionFile } from "../../../../src/vcs/vcs"
 import { dataDir, makeTestGarden } from "../../../helpers"
 import { ModuleConfig } from "../../../../src/config/module"
 import { ConfigGraph } from "../../../../src/config-graph"
@@ -249,22 +249,6 @@ describe("exec plugin", () => {
     })
   })
 
-  describe("getBuildStatus", () => {
-    it("should read a build version file if it exists", async () => {
-      const module = await graph.getModule(moduleName)
-      const version = module.version
-      const buildMetadataPath = module.buildMetadataPath
-      const versionFilePath = join(buildMetadataPath, GARDEN_BUILD_VERSION_FILENAME)
-
-      await writeModuleVersionFile(versionFilePath, version)
-
-      const actions = await garden.getActionRouter()
-      const result = await actions.getBuildStatus({ log, module })
-
-      expect(result.ready).to.be.true
-    })
-  })
-
   describe("build", () => {
     it("should write a build version file after building", async () => {
       const module = await graph.getModule(moduleName)