diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2767518..a590078 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
     <groupId>io.airlift.resolver</groupId>
     <artifactId>resolver-root</artifactId>
-    <version>1.7.1-wxd</version>
+    <version>1.7.4-wxd</version>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
     <description>Resolve the dependencies of Maven coordinates or POM file</description>
diff --git a/resolver-integration/pom.xml b/resolver-integration/pom.xml
index a1ef3b9..3d35ccf 100644
--- a/resolver-integration/pom.xml
+++ b/resolver-integration/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>io.airlift.resolver</groupId>
         <artifactId>resolver-root</artifactId>
-        <version>1.7.1-wxd</version>
+        <version>1.7.4-wxd</version>
     </parent>
 
     <groupId>io.airlift.resolver</groupId>
diff --git a/resolver/pom.xml b/resolver/pom.xml
index 9d201d0..9cc5773 100644
--- a/resolver/pom.xml
+++ b/resolver/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>io.airlift.resolver</groupId>
         <artifactId>resolver-root</artifactId>
-        <version>1.7.1-wxd</version>
+        <version>1.7.4-wxd</version>
     </parent>
 
     <groupId>io.airlift.resolver</groupId>
diff --git a/resolver/src/main/java/io/airlift/resolver/ArtifactResolver.java b/resolver/src/main/java/io/airlift/resolver/ArtifactResolver.java
index 4ec33a2..3161374 100644
--- a/resolver/src/main/java/io/airlift/resolver/ArtifactResolver.java
+++ b/resolver/src/main/java/io/airlift/resolver/ArtifactResolver.java
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
 import org.eclipse.aether.graph.Dependency;
 import org.eclipse.aether.graph.Exclusion;
 import org.eclipse.aether.impl.ArtifactDescriptorReader;
-import org.eclipse.aether.impl.DefaultServiceLocator;
 import org.eclipse.aether.impl.MetadataGeneratorFactory;
 import org.eclipse.aether.impl.ResolverArtifactResolver;
 import org.eclipse.aether.impl.VersionRangeResolver;
@@ -95,6 +94,10 @@ public class ArtifactResolver
     private final DefaultRepositorySystemSession repositorySystemSession;
     private final List<RemoteRepository> repositories;
 
+    private ProjectBuilder projectBuilder;
+
+    private ProjectBuildingRequest builderRequest;
+
     public ArtifactResolver(String localRepositoryDir, String... remoteRepositoryUris)
     {
         this(localRepositoryDir, Arrays.asList(remoteRepositoryUris));
@@ -122,6 +125,9 @@ public ArtifactResolver(String localRepositoryDir, List<String> remoteRepository
         repositorySystemSession.setTransferListener(new ConsoleTransferListener());
         repositorySystemSession.setRepositoryListener(new ConsoleRepositoryListener());
 
+        // Recreating ProjectBuilder & ProjectBuilderRequest caused major slowdowns
+        buildProjectBuilder();
+
         List<RemoteRepository> repositories = new ArrayList<>(remoteRepositoryUris.size());
         int index = 0;
         for (String repositoryUri : remoteRepositoryUris) {
@@ -205,9 +211,8 @@ public List<Artifact> resolvePom(File pomFile)
                 .collect(toImmutableList());
     }
 
-    private MavenProject getMavenProject(File pomFile)
+    private void buildProjectBuilder()
     {
-        // TODO: move off deprecated org.apache.maven.repository.RepositorySystem (impl is in maven2 compat module)
         try {
             PlexusContainer container = container();
             org.apache.maven.repository.RepositorySystem lrs = container.lookup(org.apache.maven.repository.RepositorySystem.class);
@@ -218,7 +223,21 @@ private MavenProject getMavenProject(File pomFile)
             request.setProcessPlugins(false);
             request.setLocalRepository(lrs.createDefaultLocalRepository());
             request.setRemoteRepositories(Arrays.asList(new ArtifactRepository[] {lrs.createDefaultRemoteRepository()}.clone()));
-            ProjectBuildingResult result = projectBuilder.build(pomFile, request);
+            this.projectBuilder = projectBuilder;
+            this.builderRequest = request;
+         }catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Error initializing project builder: ", e);
+        }
+    }
+    private MavenProject getMavenProject(File pomFile)
+    {
+        // TODO: move off deprecated org.apache.maven.repository.RepositorySystem (impl is in maven2 compat module)
+        try {
+            if (projectBuilder == null  || builderRequest == null)
+            {
+                buildProjectBuilder();
+            }
+            ProjectBuildingResult result = projectBuilder.build(pomFile, builderRequest);
             return result.getProject();
         }
         catch (Exception e) {