diff --git a/.pylintrc b/.pylintrc
index dd8b293..b3500b4 100644
--- a/.pylintrc
+++ b/.pylintrc
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ confidence=
 # --enable=similarities". If you want to run only the classes checker, but have
 # no Warning level messages displayed, use"--disable=all --enable=classes
 # --disable=W"
-disable=import-star-module-level,old-octal-literal,oct-method,print-statement,unpacking-in-except,parameter-unpacking,backtick,old-raise-syntax,old-ne-operator,long-suffix,dict-view-method,dict-iter-method,metaclass-assignment,next-method-called,raising-string,indexing-exception,raw_input-builtin,long-builtin,file-builtin,execfile-builtin,coerce-builtin,cmp-builtin,buffer-builtin,basestring-builtin,apply-builtin,filter-builtin-not-iterating,using-cmp-argument,useless-suppression,range-builtin-not-iterating,suppressed-message,no-absolute-import,old-division,cmp-method,reload-builtin,zip-builtin-not-iterating,intern-builtin,unichr-builtin,reduce-builtin,standarderror-builtin,unicode-builtin,xrange-builtin,coerce-method,delslice-method,getslice-method,setslice-method,input-builtin,round-builtin,hex-method,nonzero-method,map-builtin-not-iterating,missing-docstring,fixme,superfluous-parens
+disable=import-star-module-level,old-octal-literal,oct-method,print-statement,unpacking-in-except,parameter-unpacking,backtick,old-raise-syntax,old-ne-operator,long-suffix,dict-view-method,dict-iter-method,metaclass-assignment,next-method-called,raising-string,indexing-exception,raw_input-builtin,long-builtin,file-builtin,execfile-builtin,coerce-builtin,cmp-builtin,buffer-builtin,basestring-builtin,apply-builtin,filter-builtin-not-iterating,using-cmp-argument,useless-suppression,range-builtin-not-iterating,suppressed-message,no-absolute-import,old-division,cmp-method,reload-builtin,zip-builtin-not-iterating,intern-builtin,unichr-builtin,reduce-builtin,standarderror-builtin,unicode-builtin,xrange-builtin,coerce-method,delslice-method,getslice-method,setslice-method,input-builtin,round-builtin,hex-method,nonzero-method,map-builtin-not-iterating,missing-docstring,fixme,superfluous-parens,too-many-locals
 
 
 [REPORTS]
diff --git a/skipper/cli.py b/skipper/cli.py
index 6c360bd..cce94c7 100644
--- a/skipper/cli.py
+++ b/skipper/cli.py
@@ -378,6 +378,21 @@ def _push_to_registry(registry, fqdn_image):
 
 
 def _prepare_build_container(registry, image, tag, git_revision, container_context, username, password, use_cache):
+    def runner_run(command):
+        """
+        All output generated by the container runtime during this stage should
+        not be included in stdout - we should redirect it to stderr, as the
+        user is just using skipper as a wrapper to run commands like make, run
+        etc - they don't care that as a side-effect of running their commands a
+        container is being built, and they don't want the output from that
+        build process to be included in the stdout for the commands they wrap
+        with skipper.
+
+        This allows users to do things like VERSION=$(skipper make get_version)
+        without having the build process output be included in their VERSION
+        env var.
+        """
+        return runner.run(command, stdout_to_stderr=True)
 
     if tag is not None:
 
@@ -414,20 +429,20 @@ def _prepare_build_container(registry, image, tag, git_revision, container_conte
 
     if use_cache:
         cache_image = utils.generate_fqdn_image(registry, namespace=None, image=image, tag=DOCKER_TAG_FOR_CACHE)
-        runner.run(['pull', cache_image])
+        runner_run(['pull', cache_image])
         command.extend(['--cache-from', cache_image])
 
-    if runner.run(command) != 0:
+    if runner_run(command) != 0:
         exit('Failed to build image: %(image)s' % dict(image=image))
 
     if git_revision and not git.uncommitted_changes():
         utils.logger.info("Tagging image with git revision: %(tag)s", dict(tag=tag))
-        runner.run(['tag', image, tagged_image_name])
+        runner_run(['tag', image, tagged_image_name])
 
     if use_cache:
         cache_image = utils.generate_fqdn_image(registry, namespace=None, image=image, tag=DOCKER_TAG_FOR_CACHE)
-        runner.run(['tag', image, cache_image])
-        runner.run(['push', cache_image])
+        runner_run(['tag', image, cache_image])
+        runner_run(['push', cache_image])
 
     return image
 
diff --git a/skipper/runner.py b/skipper/runner.py
index 870683b..e490aec 100644
--- a/skipper/runner.py
+++ b/skipper/runner.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def get_default_net():
 
 # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
 def run(command, fqdn_image=None, environment=None, interactive=False, name=None, net=None, publish=(), volumes=None,
-        workdir=None, use_cache=False, workspace=None, env_file=()):
+        workdir=None, use_cache=False, workspace=None, env_file=(), stdout_to_stderr=False):
 
     if not net:
         net = get_default_net()
@@ -26,15 +26,17 @@ def run(command, fqdn_image=None, environment=None, interactive=False, name=None
         return _run_nested(fqdn_image, environment, command, interactive, name, net, publish, volumes,
                            workdir, use_cache, workspace, env_file)
 
-    return _run(command)
+    return _run(command, stdout_to_stderr=stdout_to_stderr)
 
 
-def _run(cmd_args):
+def _run(cmd_args, stdout_to_stderr=False):
     logger = logging.getLogger('skipper')
     cmd = [utils.get_runtime_command()]
     cmd.extend(cmd_args)
     logger.debug(' '.join(cmd))
-    proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd)
+    proc = (subprocess.Popen(cmd)
+            if not stdout_to_stderr else
+            subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=sys.stderr))
     proc.wait()
     return proc.returncode
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 21d696f..0abcd00 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -338,7 +338,8 @@ def test_make_without_build_container_tag_with_context(self, skipper_runner_run_
             mock.call(['build', '--network=host',
                        '-t', 'build-container-image', '-f',
                        'Dockerfile.build-container-image',
-                       SKIPPER_CONF_CONTAINER_CONTEXT, '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536']),
+                       SKIPPER_CONF_CONTAINER_CONTEXT, '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536'],
+                      stdout_to_stderr=True),
             mock.call(['make'] + make_params, fqdn_image='build-container-image', environment=[],
                       interactive=False, name=None, net=None, publish=(), volumes=None, workdir=None,
                       use_cache=False, workspace=None, env_file=()),
@@ -1401,7 +1402,8 @@ def test_run_without_build_container_tag(self, skipper_runner_run_mock):
         )
         expected_commands = [
             mock.call(['build', '--network=host', '-t', 'build-container-image', '-f',
-                       'Dockerfile.build-container-image', '.', '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536']),
+                       'Dockerfile.build-container-image', '.', '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536'],
+                      stdout_to_stderr=True),
             mock.call(command, fqdn_image='build-container-image', environment=[],
                       interactive=False, name=None, net=None, publish=(), volumes=None, workdir=None, workspace=None,
                       use_cache=False, env_file=()),
@@ -1804,7 +1806,8 @@ def test_make_without_build_container_tag(self, skipper_runner_run_mock):
         )
         expected_commands = [
             mock.call(['build', '--network=host', '-t', 'build-container-image', '-f',
-                       'Dockerfile.build-container-image', '.', '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536']),
+                       'Dockerfile.build-container-image', '.', '--ulimit', 'nofile=65536:65536'],
+                      stdout_to_stderr=True),
             mock.call(['make'] + make_params, fqdn_image='build-container-image', environment=[],
                       interactive=False, name=None, net=None, publish=(), volumes=None, workdir=None, workspace=None,
                       use_cache=False, env_file=()),