diff --git a/pkg/alertmanager/operator.go b/pkg/alertmanager/operator.go
index 266daf4a2..552ca6cdf 100644
--- a/pkg/alertmanager/operator.go
+++ b/pkg/alertmanager/operator.go
@@ -554,5 +554,8 @@ func (c *Operator) createCRDs() error {
 	}
 
 	// We have to wait for the CRDs to be ready. Otherwise the initial watch may fail.
-	return k8sutil.WaitForCRDReady(c.mclient.MonitoringV1().Alertmanagers(c.config.Namespace).List)
+	return errors.Wrap(
+		k8sutil.WaitForCRDReady(c.mclient.MonitoringV1().Alertmanagers(c.config.Namespace).List),
+		"waiting for Alertmanager crd failed",
+	)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/k8sutil/k8sutil.go b/pkg/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
index 4e51b0072..9829eb7f6 100644
--- a/pkg/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
+++ b/pkg/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ var CustomResourceDefinitionTypeMeta metav1.TypeMeta = metav1.TypeMeta{
 	APIVersion: "apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1",
 }
 
-// WaitForCRDReady waits for a third party resource to be available for use.
+// WaitForCRDReady waits for a custom resource definition to be available for use.
 func WaitForCRDReady(listFunc func(opts metav1.ListOptions) (runtime.Object, error)) error {
 	err := wait.Poll(3*time.Second, 10*time.Minute, func() (bool, error) {
 		_, err := listFunc(metav1.ListOptions{})
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func WaitForCRDReady(listFunc func(opts metav1.ListOptions) (runtime.Object, err
 					return false, nil
 				}
 			}
-			return false, err
+			return false, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to list CRD")
 		}
 		return true, nil
 	})
diff --git a/pkg/prometheus/operator.go b/pkg/prometheus/operator.go
index 6c643fef9..27eee2bf2 100644
--- a/pkg/prometheus/operator.go
+++ b/pkg/prometheus/operator.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import (
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/fields"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
@@ -1079,10 +1080,20 @@ func (c *Operator) createCRDs() error {
 		c.logger.Log("msg", "CRD created", "crd", crd.Spec.Names.Kind)
 	}
 
-	// We have to wait for the CRDs to be ready. Otherwise the initial watch may fail.
-	err := k8sutil.WaitForCRDReady(c.mclient.MonitoringV1().Prometheuses(c.config.Namespace).List)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+	crdListFuncs := []struct {
+		name     string
+		listFunc func(opts metav1.ListOptions) (runtime.Object, error)
+	}{
+		{"Prometheus", c.mclient.MonitoringV1().Prometheuses(c.config.Namespace).List},
+		{"ServiceMonitor", c.mclient.MonitoringV1().ServiceMonitors(c.config.Namespace).List},
 	}
-	return k8sutil.WaitForCRDReady(c.mclient.MonitoringV1().ServiceMonitors(c.config.Namespace).List)
+
+	for _, crdListFunc := range crdListFuncs {
+		err := k8sutil.WaitForCRDReady(crdListFunc.listFunc)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrapf(err, "waiting for %v crd failed", crdListFunc.name)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }