diff --git a/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner.go b/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner.go
index ba811dafe..8c8c09298 100644
--- a/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner.go
+++ b/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
-	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/communicator"
@@ -159,7 +158,7 @@ func runScripts(
 	scripts []io.ReadCloser) error {
 	// Wrap out context in a cancelation function that we use to
 	// kill the connection.
-	ctx, cancelFunc := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	ctx, cancelFunc := context.WithTimeout(ctx, comm.Timeout())
 	defer cancelFunc()
 
 	// Wait for the context to end and then disconnect
@@ -169,7 +168,7 @@ func runScripts(
 	}()
 
 	// Wait and retry until we establish the connection
-	err := retryFunc(ctx, comm.Timeout(), func() error {
+	err := communicator.Retry(ctx, func() error {
 		err := comm.Connect(o)
 		return err
 	})
@@ -187,7 +186,8 @@ func runScripts(
 		go copyOutput(o, errR, errDoneCh)
 
 		remotePath := comm.ScriptPath()
-		err = retryFunc(ctx, comm.Timeout(), func() error {
+
+		err = communicator.Retry(ctx, func() error {
 			if err := comm.UploadScript(remotePath, script); err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("Failed to upload script: %v", err)
 			}
@@ -248,75 +248,3 @@ func copyOutput(
 		o.Output(line)
 	}
 }
-
-// retryFunc is used to retry a function for a given duration
-func retryFunc(ctx context.Context, timeout time.Duration, f func() error) error {
-	// Build a new context with the timeout
-	ctx, done := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
-	defer done()
-
-	// container for atomic error value
-	type errWrap struct {
-		E error
-	}
-
-	// Try the function in a goroutine
-	var errVal atomic.Value
-	doneCh := make(chan struct{})
-	go func() {
-		defer close(doneCh)
-
-		delay := time.Duration(0)
-		for {
-			// If our context ended, we want to exit right away.
-			select {
-			case <-ctx.Done():
-				return
-			case <-time.After(delay):
-			}
-
-			// Try the function call
-			err := f()
-			errVal.Store(&errWrap{err})
-
-			if err == nil {
-				return
-			}
-
-			log.Printf("[WARN] retryable error: %v", err)
-
-			delay *= 2
-
-			if delay == 0 {
-				delay = initialBackoffDelay
-			}
-
-			if delay > maxBackoffDelay {
-				delay = maxBackoffDelay
-			}
-
-			log.Printf("[INFO] sleeping for %s", delay)
-		}
-	}()
-
-	// Wait for completion
-	select {
-	case <-ctx.Done():
-	case <-doneCh:
-	}
-
-	// Check if we have a context error to check if we're interrupted or timeout
-	switch ctx.Err() {
-	case context.Canceled:
-		return fmt.Errorf("interrupted")
-	case context.DeadlineExceeded:
-		return fmt.Errorf("timeout")
-	}
-
-	// Check if we got an error executing
-	if ev, ok := errVal.Load().(errWrap); ok {
-		return ev.E
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner_test.go b/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner_test.go
index 8c447788d..a6e024fe5 100644
--- a/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner_test.go
+++ b/builtin/provisioners/remote-exec/resource_provisioner_test.go
@@ -2,12 +2,8 @@ package remoteexec
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"io"
-	"net"
 	"testing"
-	"time"
 
 	"strings"
 
@@ -210,64 +206,6 @@ func TestResourceProvider_CollectScripts_scriptsEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestRetryFunc(t *testing.T) {
-	origMax := maxBackoffDelay
-	maxBackoffDelay = time.Second
-	origStart := initialBackoffDelay
-	initialBackoffDelay = 10 * time.Millisecond
-
-	defer func() {
-		maxBackoffDelay = origMax
-		initialBackoffDelay = origStart
-	}()
-
-	// succeed on the third try
-	errs := []error{io.EOF, &net.OpError{Err: errors.New("ERROR")}, nil}
-	count := 0
-
-	err := retryFunc(context.Background(), time.Second, func() error {
-		if count >= len(errs) {
-			return errors.New("failed to stop after nil error")
-		}
-
-		err := errs[count]
-		count++
-
-		return err
-	})
-
-	if count != 3 {
-		t.Fatal("retry func should have been called 3 times")
-	}
-
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestRetryFuncBackoff(t *testing.T) {
-	origMax := maxBackoffDelay
-	maxBackoffDelay = time.Second
-	origStart := initialBackoffDelay
-	initialBackoffDelay = 100 * time.Millisecond
-
-	defer func() {
-		maxBackoffDelay = origMax
-		initialBackoffDelay = origStart
-	}()
-
-	count := 0
-
-	retryFunc(context.Background(), time.Second, func() error {
-		count++
-		return io.EOF
-	})
-
-	if count > 4 {
-		t.Fatalf("retry func failed to backoff. called %d times", count)
-	}
-}
-
 func testConfig(t *testing.T, c map[string]interface{}) *terraform.ResourceConfig {
 	r, err := config.NewRawConfig(c)
 	if err != nil {