diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1db07bd13..f968c7dc3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ TEST_FAST_TIMEOUT := 2m
 endif
 
 build-proto::
-	docker build -t pulumi/protobuf-builder sdk/proto
 	cd sdk/proto && ./generate.sh
 
 build::
diff --git a/sdk/proto/Dockerfile b/sdk/proto/Dockerfile
index 47aa50d9b..ba0f9a00a 100644
--- a/sdk/proto/Dockerfile
+++ b/sdk/proto/Dockerfile
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM ubuntu
+FROM node:8
 
 RUN apt-get update
-RUN apt-get install -y curl unzip golang git npm python-pip
+RUN apt-get install -y curl unzip golang git python-pip python-dev
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip
 
 # Install `protoc` v3.5.1.
 RUN curl -OL https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.5.1/protoc-3.5.1-linux-x86_64.zip
@@ -37,8 +38,9 @@ RUN git checkout v1.1.0
 RUN go install ./protoc-gen-go
 
 # Install node gRPC tools.
-RUN npm install -g grpc
-RUN npm install -g grpc-tools
+RUN ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node
+RUN npm install -g grpc --unsafe-perm
+RUN npm install -g grpc-tools --unsafe-perm
 
 # Install Python gRPC tools.
 RUN python -m pip install grpcio grpcio-tools
diff --git a/sdk/proto/generate.sh b/sdk/proto/generate.sh
index ad8807d0d..4e81385a5 100755
--- a/sdk/proto/generate.sh
+++ b/sdk/proto/generate.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
 # different langauges, so nothing is else required to be installed on your machine.
 set -e
 
+# First build our Protobuf/gRPC compiler Docker image, so dev machines don't need it.
+echo "* Building Protobuf/gRPC compilers:"
+docker build -t pulumi/protobuf-builder .
+
 DOCKER_RUN="docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/../python:/python -v $(pwd)/../nodejs:/nodejs -v $(pwd):/local pulumi/protobuf-builder"
 PROTOC="$DOCKER_RUN protoc"
 
@@ -20,7 +24,7 @@ PROTOC="$DOCKER_RUN protoc"
 PROTO_FILES=$(find . -name "*.proto" -not -name "status.proto")
 JS_PROTO_FILES=$(find . -name "*.proto")
 
-echo Generating Protobuf/gRPC SDK files:
+echo "* Generating Protobuf/gRPC SDK files:"
 echo -e "\tVERSION: $($PROTOC --version)"
 echo -e "Generated by version $($PROTOC --version) of protoc" > ./grpc_version.txt
 
@@ -60,4 +64,4 @@ $DOCKER_RUN /bin/bash -c 'PY_PULUMIRPC=/python/lib/pulumi/runtime/proto/ && \
     sed -i "s/^import \([^ ]*\)_pb2 as \([^ ]*\)$/from . import \1_pb2 as \2/" "$TEMP_DIR"/*.py && \
     cp "$TEMP_DIR"/*.py "$PY_PULUMIRPC"'
 
-echo Done.
+echo "* Done."