diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4f421f5e1c..b669f03125 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -154,11 +154,11 @@ push: .push-$(ARCH) ## Publish image for a particular arch.
 	$(DOCKER) push $(MULTI_ARCH_IMAGE):$(TAG)
 
 .PHONY: build
-build: ## Build ingress controller, debug tool and pre-stop hook.
+build: check-go-version ## Build ingress controller, debug tool and pre-stop hook.
 ifeq ($(USE_DOCKER), true)
 	@build/run-in-docker.sh \
 		PKG=$(PKG) \
-		ARCH=$(PKG) \
+		ARCH=$(ARCH) \
 		GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) \
 		REPO_INFO=$(REPO_INFO) \
 		TAG=$(TAG) \
@@ -169,11 +169,11 @@ else
 endif
 
 .PHONY: build-plugin
-build-plugin: ## Build ingress-nginx krew plugin.
+build-plugin: check-go-version ## Build ingress-nginx krew plugin.
 ifeq ($(USE_DOCKER), true)
 	@build/run-in-docker.sh \
 		PKG=$(PKG) \
-		ARCH=$(PKG) \
+		ARCH=$(ARCH) \
 		GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) \
 		REPO_INFO=$(REPO_INFO) \
 		TAG=$(TAG) \
@@ -197,11 +197,11 @@ else
 endif
 
 .PHONY: test
-test: ## Run go unit tests.
+test: check-go-version ## Run go unit tests.
 ifeq ($(USE_DOCKER), true)
 	@build/run-in-docker.sh \
 		PKG=$(PKG) \
-		ARCH=$(PKG) \
+		ARCH=$(ARCH) \
 		GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) \
 		REPO_INFO=$(REPO_INFO) \
 		TAG=$(TAG) \
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ else
 endif
 
 .PHONY: e2e-test
-e2e-test: ## Run e2e tests (expects access to a working Kubernetes cluster).
+e2e-test: check-go-version ## Run e2e tests (expects access to a working Kubernetes cluster).
 	@build/run-e2e-suite.sh
 
 .PHONY: e2e-test-image
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ e2e-test-image: e2e-test-binary ## Build image for e2e tests.
 	@make -C test/e2e-image
 
 .PHONY: e2e-test-binary
-e2e-test-binary: ## Build ginkgo binary for e2e tests.
+e2e-test-binary: check-go-version ## Build ginkgo binary for e2e tests.
 ifeq ($(USE_DOCKER), true)
 	@build/run-in-docker.sh \
 		ginkgo build ./test/e2e
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ else
 endif
 
 .PHONY: cover
-cover: ## Run go coverage unit tests.
+cover: check-go-version ## Run go coverage unit tests.
 	@build/cover.sh
 	echo "Uploading coverage results..."
 	@curl -s https://codecov.io/bash | bash
@@ -260,13 +260,13 @@ check_dead_links: ## Check if the documentation contains dead links.
 	  --allow-redirect $(shell find $$PWD -mindepth 1 -name "*.md" -printf '%P\n' | grep -v vendor | grep -v Changelog.md)
 
 .PHONY: dep-ensure
-dep-ensure: ## Update and vendo go dependencies.
+dep-ensure: check-go-version ## Update and vendo go dependencies.
 	go mod tidy -v
 	find vendor -name '*_test.go' -delete
 	go mod vendor
 
 .PHONY: dev-env
-dev-env: ## Starts a local Kubernetes cluster using minikube, building and deploying the ingress controller.
+dev-env: check-go-version ## Starts a local Kubernetes cluster using minikube, building and deploying the ingress controller.
 	@USE_DOCKER=false build/dev-env.sh
 
 .PHONY: live-docs
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ build-docs: ## Build documentation (output in ./site directory).
 	@docker run --rm -v ${PWD}:/docs ingress-nginx/mkdocs build
 
 .PHONY: misspell
-misspell: ## Check for spelling errors.
+misspell: check-go-version ## Check for spelling errors.
 	@go get github.com/client9/misspell/cmd/misspell
 	misspell \
 		-locale US \
@@ -288,9 +288,13 @@ misspell: ## Check for spelling errors.
 		cmd/* internal/* deploy/* docs/* design/* test/* README.md
 
 .PHONY: kind-e2e-test
-kind-e2e-test: ## Run e2e tests using kind.
+kind-e2e-test: check-go-version ## Run e2e tests using kind.
 	@test/e2e/run.sh
 
 .PHONY: run-ingress-controller
 run-ingress-controller: ## Run the ingress controller locally using a kubectl proxy connection.
 	@build/run-ingress-controller.sh
+
+.PHONY: check-go-version
+check-go-version:
+	@hack/check-go-version.sh
diff --git a/build/run-in-docker.sh b/build/run-in-docker.sh
index 3016905ddd..b155f2835a 100755
--- a/build/run-in-docker.sh
+++ b/build/run-in-docker.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ if [ ! -d "${MINIKUBE_PATH}" ]; then
   MINIKUBE_VOLUME=""
 fi
 
+# create output directory as current user to avoid problem with docker.
+mkdir -p "${KUBE_ROOT}/bin" "${KUBE_ROOT}/bin/${ARCH}"
+
 docker run                                            \
   --tty                                               \
   --rm                                                \
diff --git a/hack/check-go-version.sh b/hack/check-go-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8f02641970
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/check-go-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2020 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+if [ -n "$DEBUG" ]; then
+	set -x
+fi
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+MINIMUM_GO_VERSION=go1.13
+
+if [[ -z "$(command -v go)" ]]; then
+    echo "
+Can't find 'go' in PATH, please fix and retry.
+See http://golang.org/doc/install for installation instructions.
+"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+IFS=" " read -ra go_version <<< "$(go version)"
+
+if [[ "${MINIMUM_GO_VERSION}" != $(echo -e "${MINIMUM_GO_VERSION}\n${go_version[2]}" | sort -s -t. -k 1,1 -k 2,2n -k 3,3n | head -n1) && "${go_version[2]}" != "devel" ]]; then
+	echo "
+Detected go version: ${go_version[*]}.
+ingress-nginx requires ${MINIMUM_GO_VERSION} or greater.
+
+Please install ${MINIMUM_GO_VERSION} or later.
+"
+    exit 1
+fi