diff --git a/benchmarks/utils/build_utils.py b/benchmarks/utils/build_utils.py
index b4e56b9ad..c4f413387 100644
--- a/benchmarks/utils/build_utils.py
+++ b/benchmarks/utils/build_utils.py
@@ -303,9 +303,16 @@ def build_image(
         sdk_version=sdk_version,
     )
     for t in opts.all_tags:
-        # Check if image exists or not
+        # Check local Docker first (fast), then remote registry (slow)
+        # This avoids overwhelming the registry with 500+ concurrent HTTP requests
+        # when building large batches (e.g., all SWE-Bench images)
+        if local_image_exists(t):
+            logger.info("Image %s already exists locally. Skipping build.", t)
+            return BuildOutput(base_image=base_image, tags=[t], error=None)
         if remote_image_exists(t):
-            logger.info("Image %s already exists. Skipping build.", t)
+            logger.info(
+                "Image %s already exists in remote registry. Skipping build.", t
+            )
             return BuildOutput(base_image=base_image, tags=[t], error=None)
     tags = build(opts)
     return BuildOutput(base_image=base_image, tags=tags, error=None)