diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6842bd3..ddd2450 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -177,6 +177,8 @@ $ start-test --expect 403 start :9000 test:e2e
 
 See `demo-expect-403` NPM script.
 
+Default expected value is 200.
+
 ## `npx` and `yarn`
 
 If you have [npx](https://www.npmjs.com/package/npx) available, you can execute locally installed tools from the shell. For example, if the `package.json` has the following local tools:
diff --git a/src/bin/start.js b/src/bin/start.js
index a1b3b47..3aea114 100755
--- a/src/bin/start.js
+++ b/src/bin/start.js
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ if (!Array.isArray(services)) {
   throw new Error(`Could not parse arguments %o, got %o`, args, parsed)
 }
 
+if (!namedArguments.expect) {
+  namedArguments.expect = 200
+}
+
 utils.printArguments({ services, test, namedArguments })
 
 startAndTest({ services, test, namedArguments }).catch(e => {
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 86c5d38..cca10d0 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -130,6 +130,12 @@ function startAndTest ({ services, test, namedArguments }) {
     throw new Error('Got zero services to start ...')
   }
 
+  la(
+    is.number(namedArguments.expect),
+    'expected status should be a number',
+    namedArguments.expect
+  )
+
   if (services.length === 1) {
     const runTests = runTheTests(test)
     debug('single service "%s" to run and test', services[0].start)
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 1bd3885..6062237 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -218,6 +218,12 @@ const normalizeUrl = input => {
 }
 
 function printArguments ({ services, test, namedArguments }) {
+  la(
+    is.number(namedArguments.expect),
+    'expected status code should be a number',
+    namedArguments.expect
+  )
+
   services.forEach((service, k) => {
     console.log('%d: starting server using command "%s"', k + 1, service.start)
     console.log(