diff --git a/scripts/ci/before_install.sh b/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
index 1411a4e4c..bb7490a54 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,15 @@
 set -x
 set -e
 
+scriptdir="$(dirname $0)"
+
 if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then
     ulimit -a
     sudo sysctl -w kern.maxproc=2048
     sudo sysctl -w kern.maxprocperuid=2048
     echo '\nulimit -u 2048' >> ~/.bash_profile
     ulimit -a
-    brew update
+    $scriptdir/retry.sh brew update
     brew upgrade pyenv
     # NOTE: used to install and run our style checking tools
     osx_python_ver=3.6.2
@@ -47,7 +49,6 @@ if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" != "windows" ]]; then
     ssh 0.0.0.0 ls &> /dev/null
 fi
 
-scriptdir="$(dirname $0)"
 echo > env.sh
 
 if [ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ] && [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]
diff --git a/scripts/ci/install.sh b/scripts/ci/install.sh
index cefee81e3..658bf1fd1 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/install.sh
@@ -3,20 +3,14 @@
 set -x
 set -e
 
-N_RETRIES=3
-
-function retry {
-    for i in $(seq $N_RETRIES); do
-        $@ && break
-    done
-}
+scriptdir="$(dirname $0)"
 
 # NOTE: it is not uncommon for pip to hang on travis for what seems to be
 # networking issues. Thus, let's retry a few times to see if it will eventially
 # work or not.
-retry pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
-retry pip install .[all,tests]
-retry pip install psutil
+$scriptdir/retry.sh pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
+$scriptdir/retry.sh pip install .[all,tests]
+$scriptdir/retry.sh pip install psutil
 
 git config --global user.email "dvctester@example.com"
 git config --global user.name "DVC Tester"
diff --git a/scripts/ci/retry.sh b/scripts/ci/retry.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..490f92908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/retry.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+N_RETRIES=3
+for i in $(seq $N_RETRIES); do
+    echo "Attempt #$i"
+    $@ && exit $?
+done
+
+exit $?