diff --git a/hack/update-api-reference-docs.sh b/hack/update-api-reference-docs.sh
index 0325ca74490..0d811b64a25 100755
--- a/hack/update-api-reference-docs.sh
+++ b/hack/update-api-reference-docs.sh
@@ -24,49 +24,52 @@ set -o pipefail
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 kube::golang::setup_env
-kube::util::ensure-temp-dir
 
-#KUBE_ROOT should be an absolute path now that we have run kube::golang::setup_env.
+DEFAULT_OUTPUT="${KUBE_ROOT}/docs/api-reference"
+OUTPUT=${1:-${DEFAULT_OUTPUT}}
+# Use REPO_DIR if provided so we can set it to the host-resolvable path
+# to the repo root if we are running this script from a container with
+# docker mounted in as a volume.
+# We pass the host output dir as the source dir to `docker run -v`, but use
+# the regular one to compute diff (they will be the same if running this
+# test on the host, potentially different if running in a container).
 REPO_DIR=${REPO_DIR:-"${KUBE_ROOT}"}
-DEFAULT_OUTPUT_PATH="${REPO_DIR}/docs/api-reference"
-OUTPUT=${1:-${DEFAULT_OUTPUT_PATH}}
-OUTPUT_TEMP="${KUBE_TEMP}/generated_html"
+TMP_SUBPATH="_output/generated_html"
+OUTPUT_TMP_IN_HOST="${REPO_DIR}/${TMP_SUBPATH}"
+OUTPUT_TMP="${KUBE_ROOT}/${TMP_SUBPATH}"
 
-echo "Generating api reference docs at ${OUTPUT}"
+echo "Generating api reference docs at ${OUTPUT_TMP}"
 
-V1_PATH="${OUTPUT}/v1/"
-V1_TEMP_PATH="${OUTPUT_TEMP}/v1/"
-mkdir -p ${V1_TEMP_PATH}
-V1BETA1_PATH="${OUTPUT}/extensions/v1beta1/"
-V1BETA1_TEMP_PATH="${OUTPUT_TEMP}/extensions/v1beta1/"
-mkdir -p ${V1BETA1_TEMP_PATH}
+V1_TMP_IN_HOST="${OUTPUT_TMP_IN_HOST}/v1/"
+V1_TMP="${OUTPUT_TMP}/v1/"
+mkdir -p ${V1_TMP}
+V1BETA1_TMP_IN_HOST="${OUTPUT_TMP_IN_HOST}/extensions/v1beta1/"
+V1BETA1_TMP="${OUTPUT_TMP}/extensions/v1beta1/"
+mkdir -p ${V1BETA1_TMP}
 SWAGGER_PATH="${REPO_DIR}/api/swagger-spec/"
 
 echo "Reading swagger spec from: ${SWAGGER_PATH}"
 
-mkdir -p $V1_PATH
-mkdir -p $V1BETA1_PATH
-
-docker run -u $(id -u) --rm -v $V1_TEMP_PATH:/output:z -v ${SWAGGER_PATH}:/swagger-source:z gcr.io/google_containers/gen-swagger-docs:v4 \
+docker run -u $(id -u) --rm -v $V1_TMP_IN_HOST:/output:z -v ${SWAGGER_PATH}:/swagger-source:z gcr.io/google_containers/gen-swagger-docs:v4 \
     v1 \
     https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/master/pkg/api/v1/register.go
 
-docker run -u $(id -u) --rm -v $V1BETA1_TEMP_PATH:/output:z -v ${SWAGGER_PATH}:/swagger-source:z gcr.io/google_containers/gen-swagger-docs:v4 \
+docker run -u $(id -u) --rm -v $V1BETA1_TMP_IN_HOST:/output:z -v ${SWAGGER_PATH}:/swagger-source:z gcr.io/google_containers/gen-swagger-docs:v4 \
     v1beta1 \
     https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/master/pkg/apis/extensions/v1beta1/register.go
 
 # Check if we actually changed anything
-pushd "${OUTPUT_TEMP}" > /dev/null
+pushd "${OUTPUT_TMP}" > /dev/null
 touch .generated_html
 find . -type f | cut -sd / -f 2- | LC_ALL=C sort > .generated_html
 popd > /dev/null
 
 while read file; do
-  if [[ -e "${OUTPUT}/${file}" && -e "${OUTPUT_TEMP}/${file}" ]]; then
-    echo "comparing ${OUTPUT}/${file} with ${OUTPUT_TEMP}/${file}"
+  if [[ -e "${OUTPUT}/${file}" && -e "${OUTPUT_TMP}/${file}" ]]; then
+    echo "comparing ${OUTPUT}/${file} with ${OUTPUT_TMP}/${file}"
     # Filter all munges from original content.
     original=$(cat "${OUTPUT}/${file}")
-    generated=$(cat "${OUTPUT_TEMP}/${file}")
+    generated=$(cat "${OUTPUT_TMP}/${file}")
 
     # Filter out meaningless lines with timestamps
     original=$(echo "${original}" | grep -v "Last updated" || :)
@@ -76,11 +79,14 @@ while read file; do
     # auto-managed content.  
     if diff -Bw >/dev/null <(echo "${original}") <(echo "${generated}"); then
       # actual contents same, overwrite generated with original.
-      cp "${OUTPUT}/${file}" "${OUTPUT_TEMP}/${file}"
+      cp "${OUTPUT}/${file}" "${OUTPUT_TMP}/${file}"
     fi
   fi
-done <"${OUTPUT_TEMP}/.generated_html"
+done <"${OUTPUT_TMP}/.generated_html"
 
-cp -af "${OUTPUT_TEMP}"/* "${OUTPUT}"
+echo "Moving api reference docs from ${OUT_TMP} to ${OUTPUT}"
+
+cp -af "${OUTPUT_TMP}"/* "${OUTPUT}"
+rm -r ${OUTPUT_TMP}
 
 # ex: ts=2 sw=2 et filetype=sh
diff --git a/hack/verify-api-reference-docs.sh b/hack/verify-api-reference-docs.sh
index f718836a4ad..79d86b6bc66 100755
--- a/hack/verify-api-reference-docs.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-api-reference-docs.sh
@@ -26,15 +26,8 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 kube::golang::setup_env
 
 API_REFERENCE_DOCS_ROOT="${KUBE_ROOT}/docs/api-reference"
-# Use REPO_DIR if provided so we can set it to the host-resolvable path
-# to the repo root if we are running this script from a container with
-# docker mounted in as a volume.
-# We pass the host output dir to update-api-reference-docs.sh, but use
-# the regular one to compute diff (they will be the same if running this
-# test on the host, potentially different if running in a container).
-REPO_DIR=${REPO_DIR:-"${KUBE_ROOT}"}
-HOST_OUTPUT_DIR="${REPO_DIR}/_tmp/api-reference"
-TMP_OUTPUT_DIR="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp/api-reference"
+HOST_OUTPUT_DIR="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp/api-reference"
+mkdir -p ${HOST_OUTPUT_DIR}
 TMP_ROOT="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
 
 # Generate API reference docs in tmp.
@@ -42,7 +35,7 @@ TMP_ROOT="${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
 
 echo "diffing ${API_REFERENCE_DOCS_ROOT} against freshly generated docs"
 ret=0
-diff -Naupr -I 'Last update' --exclude=*.md "${API_REFERENCE_DOCS_ROOT}" "${TMP_OUTPUT_DIR}" || ret=$?
+diff -Naupr -I 'Last update' --exclude=*.md "${API_REFERENCE_DOCS_ROOT}" "${HOST_OUTPUT_DIR}" || ret=$?
 rm -rf "${TMP_ROOT}"
 if [[ $ret -eq 0 ]]
 then