diff --git a/overlord/snapstate/snapstate_test.go b/overlord/snapstate/snapstate_test.go
index 68a94355398..2cd2499edbb 100644
--- a/overlord/snapstate/snapstate_test.go
+++ b/overlord/snapstate/snapstate_test.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func (s *snapmgrBaseTest) settle(c *C) {
 	s.state.Unlock()
 	defer s.state.Lock()
 
-	err := s.o.Settle(testutil.HostScaledTimeout(5 * time.Second))
+	err := s.o.Settle(testutil.HostScaledTimeout(10 * time.Second))
 	if err != nil {
 		s.state.Lock()
 		defer s.state.Unlock()
diff --git a/run-checks b/run-checks
index 9813226dbf3..66dc1a4e8f3 100755
--- a/run-checks
+++ b/run-checks
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ COVERMODE=${COVERMODE:-atomic}
 COVERAGE_SUFFIX=${GO_BUILD_TAGS:-notags}
 COVERAGE_OUT=${COVERAGE_OUT:-.coverage/coverage-$COVERAGE_SUFFIX.cov}
 CHANGED_FILES=${CHANGED_FILES:-""}
+TIMEOUT=${TIMEOUT:-5}
 
 if [ -z "${GITHUB_WORKFLOW:-}" ]; then
     # when *not* running inside github, ensure we use go-1.18 by default
@@ -434,7 +435,7 @@ if [ "$UNIT" = 1 ]; then
 
     tags=
     race=
-    timeout="5m"
+    timeout="${TIMEOUT}m"
     if [ -n "${GO_BUILD_TAGS:-}" ]; then
         echo "Using build tags: $GO_BUILD_TAGS"
         tags="-tags $GO_BUILD_TAGS"
@@ -442,7 +443,7 @@ if [ "$UNIT" = 1 ]; then
     if [ -n "${GO_TEST_RACE:-}" ]; then
         echo "Using go test -race"
         race="-race"
-        timeout="10m"
+        timeout="$((TIMEOUT*2))m"
     fi
 
     echo Building
diff --git a/tests/unit/go/task.yaml b/tests/unit/go/task.yaml
index 0d8b731640b..8b7c8f73d20 100644
--- a/tests/unit/go/task.yaml
+++ b/tests/unit/go/task.yaml
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ execute: |
                 $PROXY_PARAM \
                 SKIP_COVERAGE=1 \
                 CC=$VARIANT \
+                TIMEOUT=15 \
                 ./run-checks --unit"
         fi
     else
@@ -119,6 +120,7 @@ execute: |
                 $PROXY_PARAM \
                 SKIP_COVERAGE=1 \
                 CC=$VARIANT \
+                TIMEOUT=15 \
                 ./run-checks --unit" test
         fi
     fi