diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b24f18051..98dbc95d4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ build-ci-builder:
     - kapsule
     - docker
   rules:
-    - changes:
+    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"
+      changes:
         - infra/docker/Dockerfile.ci-builder
       when: on_success
     - when: manual
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ build-ci-builder:
 check:
   extends: .rust-base
   stage: check
+  needs: []
   script:
     - sccache --zero-stats || true
     - cargo check --workspace
diff --git a/infra/k8s/gitlab/runner-values.yaml b/infra/k8s/gitlab/runner-values.yaml
index 892475c52..2af359b23 100644
--- a/infra/k8s/gitlab/runner-values.yaml
+++ b/infra/k8s/gitlab/runner-values.yaml
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ runners:
         namespace = "foxhunt"
         image = "rust:1.89-slim"
         privileged = false
+        # H100 scale-to-zero needs ~3-5 min to provision; default 180s times out
+        poll_timeout = 600
         # Resource limits for build pods (H100 node: 24 vCPU, 240GB)
         cpu_request = "4000m"
         cpu_limit = "16000m"