diff --git a/test/e2e/helm.go b/test/e2e/helm.go
index 475e588a3..6b5bde4f9 100644
--- a/test/e2e/helm.go
+++ b/test/e2e/helm.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -86,6 +87,18 @@ func (h *HelmCmd) Stderr() string {
 	return h.stderr.String()
 }
 
+func (h *HelmCmd) StdoutContains(substring string) bool {
+	return strings.Contains(h.Stdout(), substring)
+}
+
+func (h *HelmCmd) StderrContains(substring string) bool {
+	return strings.Contains(h.Stderr(), substring)
+}
+
+func (h *HelmCmd) Contains(substring string) bool {
+	return h.StdoutContains(substring) || h.StderrContains(substring)
+}
+
 func RepoRoot() string {
 	return filepath.Clean(filepath.Join(path.Base(os.Args[0]), "../../.."))
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/helm_test.go b/test/e2e/helm_test.go
index 9ea9ca8ba..2095346a3 100644
--- a/test/e2e/helm_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/helm_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/rand"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ var (
 	repoURL  = flag.String("repo-url", "gs://areese-charts", "Repository URL")
 	repoName = flag.String("repo-name", "areese-charts", "Repository name")
 	chart    = flag.String("chart", "gs://areese-charts/replicatedservice-3.tgz", "Chart to deploy")
+	host     = flag.String("host", "", "The URL to the helm server")
 )
 
 func TestHelm(t *testing.T) {
@@ -40,29 +42,48 @@ func TestHelm(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("Helm is not installed")
 	}
 
-	helm.Host = fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", kube.Server(), apiProxy)
-	t.Logf("Using host: %v", helm.Host)
+	helm.Host = helmHost()
 
-	t.Log("Executing deployment list")
-	helm.Run("deployment", "list")
+	if helm.Host == "" {
+		helm.Host = fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", kube.Server(), apiProxy)
+	}
+	t.Logf("Using host: %v", helm.Host)
 
-	t.Logf("Adding repo %s %s", *repoName, *repoURL)
-	helm.Run("repo", "add", *repoName, *repoURL)
+	if !helm.Run("repo", "list").Contains(*repoURL) {
+		t.Logf("Adding repo %s %s", *repoName, *repoURL)
+		helm.Run("repo", "add", *repoName, *repoURL)
+	}
 
 	deploymentName := genName()
 
 	t.Log("Executing deploy")
-	helm.Run("deploy", "--name", deploymentName, *chart)
+	helm.Run("deploy", "--properties", "container_port=6379,image=kubernetes/redis:v1,replicas=2", "--name", deploymentName, *chart)
 
 	t.Log("Executing deployment list")
-	helm.Run("deployment", "list")
+	if !helm.Run("deployment", "list").Contains(deploymentName) {
+		t.Fatal("Could not list deployment")
+	}
+
+	t.Log("Executing deployment info")
+	if !helm.Run("deployment", "info", deploymentName).Contains("Deployed") {
+		t.Fatal("Could not deploy")
+	}
 
 	t.Log("Executing deployment delete")
-	helm.Run("deployment", "delete", deploymentName)
+	if !helm.Run("deployment", "rm", deploymentName).Contains("Deleted") {
+		t.Fatal("Could not delete deployment")
+	}
 }
 
 func genName() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%d", rand.Uint32())
+	return fmt.Sprintf("e2e-%d", rand.Uint32())
+}
+
+func helmHost() string {
+	if *host != "" {
+		return *host
+	}
+	return os.Getenv("HELM_HOST")
 }
 
 func helmRunning(h *HelmContext) bool {