diff --git a/src/tito/builder.py b/src/tito/builder.py
index b155062..2457c0d 100644
--- a/src/tito/builder.py
+++ b/src/tito/builder.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from distutils.version import LooseVersion as loose_version
 from tempfile import mkdtemp
 
 from tito.common import *
+from tito.exception import RunCommandException
 from tito.release import *
 from tito.exception import TitoException
 from tito.config_object import ConfigObject
@@ -261,6 +262,11 @@ class Builder(ConfigObject):
         except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit):
             print ""
             exit(1)
+        except RunCommandException, err:
+            msg = str(err)
+            if (re.search('Failed build dependencies', err.output)):
+                msg = "Please run 'yum-builddep %s' as root." % find_spec_file(self.relative_project_dir)
+            error_out('%s' % msg)
         except Exception, err:
             error_out('%s' % str(err))
         print(output)
diff --git a/src/tito/common.py b/src/tito/common.py
index 3e0f729..f2b042c 100644
--- a/src/tito/common.py
+++ b/src/tito/common.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import sys
 import commands
 import traceback
 
+from tito.exception import RunCommandException
+
 DEFAULT_BUILD_DIR = "/tmp/tito"
 DEFAULT_BUILDER = "default_builder"
 DEFAULT_TAGGER = "default_tagger"
@@ -209,7 +211,6 @@ def extract_sha1(output):
     else:
         return ""
 
-
 def run_command(command):
     debug(command)
     (status, output) = commands.getstatusoutput(command)
@@ -218,7 +219,7 @@ def run_command(command):
         sys.stderr.write("Error running command: %s\n" % command)
         sys.stderr.write("Status code: %s\n" % status)
         sys.stderr.write("Command output: %s\n" % output)
-        raise Exception("Error running command")
+        raise RunCommandException("Error running command", command, status, output)
     return output
 
 
diff --git a/src/tito/exception.py b/src/tito/exception.py
index 21f442b..af3d133 100644
--- a/src/tito/exception.py
+++ b/src/tito/exception.py
@@ -28,3 +28,11 @@ class TitoException(Exception):
 
     def __str__(self):
         return "TitoException: %s" % self.message
+
+class RunCommandException(Exception):
+    """ Raised by run_command() """
+    def __init__(self, msg, command, status, output):
+        Exception.__init__(self, msg)
+        self.command = command
+        self.status = status
+        self.output = output
diff --git a/tito.spec b/tito.spec
index 52133b2..94126fc 100644
--- a/tito.spec
+++ b/tito.spec
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Requires: fedora-cert
 Requires: fedora-packager
 Requires: rpmdevtools
 Requires: rpm-python
+Requires: yum-utils
 
 %description
 Tito is a tool for managing tarballs, rpms, and builds for projects using