diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f609583..f6b0960 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ These variables have default values and don't have to be set to use this module.
 | external\_securitygroup\_ids | The Network Security Group ids for external network | `List` | [] |
 | internal\_securitygroup\_ids | The Network Security Group ids for internal network | `List` | [] |
 | tags | `key:value` tags to apply to resources built by the module | `map`  |   {}   |
+| sleep_time | The number of seconds/minutes of delay to build into creation of BIG-IP VMs | `string` | 300s |
 
 ~> **NOTE:** For each external interface there will be one primary,secondary private ip will be assigned.
 
diff --git a/main.tf b/main.tf
index 7d4f03d..58b94d1 100644
--- a/main.tf
+++ b/main.tf
@@ -433,9 +433,6 @@ resource "aws_instance" "f5_bigip" {
   }
   iam_instance_profile = var.aws_iam_instance_profile
   user_data            = coalesce(var.custom_user_data, data.template_file.user_data_vm0.rendered)
-  provisioner "local-exec" {
-    command = "sleep 420"
-  }
   tags = merge(local.tags, {
     Name = format("BIGIP-Instance-%s", local.instance_prefix)
     }
@@ -443,6 +440,11 @@ resource "aws_instance" "f5_bigip" {
   depends_on = [aws_eip.mgmt, aws_network_interface.public, aws_network_interface.private]
 }
 
+resource "time_sleep" "wait_for_aws_instance_f5_bigip" {
+  depends_on      = [aws_instance.f5_bigip]
+  create_duration = var.sleep_time
+}
+
 data "template_file" "clustermemberDO1" {
   count    = local.total_nics == 1 ? 1 : 0
   template = file("${path.module}/onboard_do_1nic.tpl")
diff --git a/variables.tf b/variables.tf
index 42ea200..3338b12 100644
--- a/variables.tf
+++ b/variables.tf
@@ -177,3 +177,9 @@ variable "tags" {
   type        = map(any)
   default     = {}
 }
+
+variable "sleep_time" {
+  type        = string
+  default     = "300s"
+  description = "The number of seconds/minutes of delay to build into creation of BIG-IP VMs; default is 250. BIG-IP requires a few minutes to complete the onboarding process and this value can be used to delay the processing of dependent Terraform resources."
+}