diff --git a/nova/conductor/manager.py b/nova/conductor/manager.py
index 2e8b707e5fa9..1e8998d17fdc 100644
--- a/nova/conductor/manager.py
+++ b/nova/conductor/manager.py
@@ -488,10 +488,10 @@ class ComputeTaskManager(base.Base):
             # check retry policy. Rather ugly use of instances[0]...
             # but if we've exceeded max retries... then we really only
             # have a single instance.
+            request_spec = scheduler_utils.build_request_spec(
+                context, image, instances)
             scheduler_utils.populate_retry(
                 filter_properties, instances[0].uuid)
-            request_spec = scheduler_utils.build_request_spec(
-                    context, image, instances)
             hosts = self._schedule_instances(
                     context, request_spec, filter_properties)
         except Exception as exc:
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py b/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
index 398db5942571..9d0ac5875056 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
@@ -573,8 +573,9 @@ class _BaseTaskTestCase(object):
         @mock.patch.object(conductor_manager.ComputeTaskManager,
                            '_cleanup_allocated_networks')
         @mock.patch.object(scheduler_utils, 'set_vm_state_and_notify')
+        @mock.patch.object(scheduler_utils, 'build_request_spec')
         @mock.patch.object(scheduler_utils, 'populate_retry')
-        def _test(populate_retry,
+        def _test(populate_retry, build_spec,
                   set_vm_state_and_notify, cleanup_mock):
             # build_instances() is a cast, we need to wait for it to
             # complete
@@ -599,7 +600,7 @@ class _BaseTaskTestCase(object):
                 filter_properties, instances[0].uuid)
             set_vm_state_and_notify.assert_called_once_with(
                 self.context, instances[0].uuid, 'compute_task',
-                'build_instances', updates, mock.ANY, {})
+                'build_instances', updates, mock.ANY, build_spec.return_value)
             cleanup_mock.assert_called_once_with(self.context, mock.ANY, None)
 
         _test()