diff --git a/lib/config.json b/lib/config.json
index 9854217..a9a38ef 100644
--- a/lib/config.json
+++ b/lib/config.json
@@ -98,31 +98,37 @@
 		   { "name" : "Debian-x86_64-m64",
 		     "type" : "Plain_c64t64",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-x86-64",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-x86_64" ] },
 
 		   { "name" : "Debian-x86_64-native-gdbserver-m64",
 		     "type" : "NativeGDBServer_c64t64",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-x86-64-native-gdbserver",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-x86_64" ] },
 
 		   { "name" : "Debian-x86_64-native-extended-gdbserver-m64",
 		     "type" : "NativeExtendedGDBServer_c64t64",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-x86-64-native-extended-gdbserver",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-x86_64" ] },
 
 		   { "name" : "Debian-i686-native-gdbserver",
 		     "type" : "NativeGDBServer_c32t32",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-i686-native-gdbserver",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-i686" ] },
 
 		   { "name" : "Debian-i686-native-extended-gdbserver",
 		     "type" : "NativeExtendedGDBServer_c32t32",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-i686-native-extended-gdbserver",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-i686" ] },
 
 		   { "name" : "Debian-i686",
 		     "type" : "Plain_c32t32",
 		     "builddir" : "debian-i686",
+		     "initial_delay" : "600",
 		     "slavenames" : [ "wildebeest-debian-wheezy-i686" ] },
 
 
diff --git a/master.cfg b/master.cfg
index 83f160b..7deea41 100644
--- a/master.cfg
+++ b/master.cfg
@@ -612,11 +612,17 @@ The parameters of the class are:
     # (i.e., do not use '--with-separate-debug-dir')
     use_system_debuginfo = True
 
-    def __init__ (self, architecture_triplet = []):
+    def __init__ (self, architecture_triplet = [], initial_delay = None):
         factory.BuildFactory.__init__ (self)
 
         self.architecture_triplet = architecture_triplet
 
+        # mjw asked me to delay the build by X number of seconds.
+        if initial_delay:
+            self.addStep (ShellCommand (command = ['sleep', '%d' % initial_delay],
+                                        description = "delaying start of build by %d seconds" % initial_delay,
+                                        descriptionDone = "delayed start of build by %d seconds" % initial_delay))
+
         self.addStep (RemoveDirectory (dir = WithProperties (r"%s/build",
                                                              r'builddir'),
                                        description = r"removing old build dir",
@@ -876,13 +882,21 @@ def load_config (c):
     c['builders'] = []
     for b in config['builders']:
         myenv = {}
+
         if 'arch_triplet' in b:
             architecture_triplet = [ b.pop ('arch_triplet') ]
         else:
             architecture_triplet = []
+
+        if 'initial_delay' in b:
+            initial_delay = int (b.pop ('initial_delay'))
+        else:
+            initial_delay = None
+
         btype = b.pop ('type')
         factory = globals ()[ "RunTestGDB%s" % btype ]
-        b['factory'] = factory (architecture_triplet = architecture_triplet)
+        b['factory'] = factory (architecture_triplet = architecture_triplet,
+                                initial_delay = initial_delay)
         b['canStartBuild'] = DefaultGDBCanStartBuild
         b['mergeRequests'] = False