diff --git a/cmd/snapctl/flags.go b/cmd/snapctl/flags.go
index 3f1c9b33b..1067d5974 100644
--- a/cmd/snapctl/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/snapctl/flags.go
@@ -21,10 +21,6 @@ package main
 
 import "github.com/codegangsta/cli"
 
-const (
-	DefaultMaxFailures = 10
-)
-
 var (
 
 	// Main flags
@@ -126,10 +122,9 @@ var (
 		Name:  "deadline",
 		Usage: "The deadline for the task to be killed after started if the task runs too long (All tasks default to 5s)",
 	}
-	flTaskMaxFailures = cli.IntFlag{
+	flTaskMaxFailures = cli.StringFlag{
 		Name:  "max-failures",
-		Usage: "The number of consecutive failures before snap disable the task (Default 10 consective failures)",
-		Value: DefaultMaxFailures,
+		Usage: "The number of consecutive failures before snap disable the task",
 	}
 
 	// metric
diff --git a/cmd/snapctl/task.go b/cmd/snapctl/task.go
index b0818fe96..3013dca99 100644
--- a/cmd/snapctl/task.go
+++ b/cmd/snapctl/task.go
@@ -100,6 +100,20 @@ func createTask(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 	return err
 }
 
+func stringValToInt(val string) (int, error) {
+	// parse the input (string) value as an integer (log a Fatal
+	// error if we cannot parse the value as an integer)
+	parsedField, err := strconv.Atoi(val)
+	if err != nil {
+		splitErr := strings.Split(err.Error(), ": ")
+		errStr := splitErr[len(splitErr)-1]
+		// return a value of zero and the error encountered during string parsing
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("Value '%v' cannot be parsed as an integer (%v)", val, errStr)
+	}
+	// return the integer equivalent of the input string and a nil error (indicating success)
+	return parsedField, nil
+}
+
 func createTaskUsingTaskManifest(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 	path := ctx.String("task-manifest")
 	ext := filepath.Ext(path)
@@ -129,12 +143,6 @@ func createTaskUsingTaskManifest(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("Invalid version provided")
 	}
 
-	// If the number of failures does not specific, default value is 10
-	if t.MaxFailures == 0 {
-		fmt.Println("If the number of maximum failures is not specified, use default value of", DefaultMaxFailures)
-		t.MaxFailures = DefaultMaxFailures
-	}
-
 	r := pClient.CreateTask(t.Schedule, t.Workflow, t.Name, t.Deadline, !ctx.IsSet("no-start"), t.MaxFailures)
 
 	if r.Err != nil {
@@ -198,7 +206,11 @@ func createTaskUsingWFManifest(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 
 	// Deadline for a task
 	dl := ctx.String("deadline")
-	maxFailures := ctx.Int("max-failures")
+	maxFailuresStr := ctx.String("max-failures")
+	maxFailures, err := stringValToInt(maxFailuresStr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Value for command-line option 'max-failures' (%v) cannot be parsed as an integer\n", maxFailuresStr)
+	}
 
 	var sch *client.Schedule
 	// None of these mean it is a simple schedule
diff --git a/core/task.go b/core/task.go
index b5a1d212b..bdc7d9dbb 100644
--- a/core/task.go
+++ b/core/task.go
@@ -197,7 +197,12 @@ func CreateTaskFromContent(body io.ReadCloser,
 	if tr.Name != "" {
 		opts = append(opts, SetTaskName(tr.Name))
 	}
-	opts = append(opts, OptionStopOnFailure(10))
+
+	// if a MaxFailures value is included as part of the task creation request
+	if tr.MaxFailures > 0 {
+		// then set the appropriate value in the opts
+		opts = append(opts, OptionStopOnFailure(tr.MaxFailures))
+	}
 
 	if mode == nil {
 		mode = &tr.Start
diff --git a/mgmt/rest/client/client_func_test.go b/mgmt/rest/client/client_func_test.go
index d0c725d37..1c6920dca 100644
--- a/mgmt/rest/client/client_func_test.go
+++ b/mgmt/rest/client/client_func_test.go
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ func TestSnapClient(t *testing.T) {
 					So(t1.Err.Error(), ShouldEqual, fmt.Sprintf("Task not found: ID(%s)", uuid))
 				})
 				Convey("invalid task (missing metric)", func() {
-					tt := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", true, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+					tt := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", true, 0)
 					So(tt.Err, ShouldNotBeNil)
 					So(tt.Err.Error(), ShouldContainSubstring, "Metric not found: /intel/mock/foo")
 				})
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ func TestSnapClient(t *testing.T) {
 				So(p.AvailablePlugins, ShouldBeEmpty)
 			})
 			Convey("invalid task (missing publisher)", func() {
-				tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+				tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, 0)
 				So(tf.Err, ShouldNotBeNil)
 				So(tf.Err.Error(), ShouldContainSubstring, "Plugin not found: type(publisher) name(mock-file)")
 			})
@@ -338,11 +338,11 @@ func TestSnapClient(t *testing.T) {
 		Convey("Tasks", func() {
 			Convey("Passing a bad task manifest", func() {
 				wfb := getWMFromSample("bad.json")
-				ttb := c.CreateTask(sch, wfb, "bad", "", true, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+				ttb := c.CreateTask(sch, wfb, "bad", "", true, 0)
 				So(ttb.Err, ShouldNotBeNil)
 			})
 
-			tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+			tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, 0)
 			Convey("valid task not started on creation", func() {
 				So(tf.Err, ShouldBeNil)
 				So(tf.Name, ShouldEqual, "baron")
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ func TestSnapClient(t *testing.T) {
 				})
 			})
 
-			tt := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", true, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+			tt := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", true, 0)
 			Convey("valid task started on creation", func() {
 				So(tt.Err, ShouldBeNil)
 				So(tt.Name, ShouldEqual, "baron")
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ func TestSnapClient(t *testing.T) {
 					Convey("event stream", func() {
 						rest.StreamingBufferWindow = 0.01
 						sch := &Schedule{Type: "simple", Interval: "100ms"}
-						tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, rest.DefaultMaxFailures)
+						tf := c.CreateTask(sch, wf, "baron", "", false, 0)
 
 						type ea struct {
 							events []string
diff --git a/mgmt/rest/flags.go b/mgmt/rest/flags.go
index 9b0b7f730..b6ef2dd0e 100644
--- a/mgmt/rest/flags.go
+++ b/mgmt/rest/flags.go
@@ -25,10 +25,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/codegangsta/cli"
 )
 
-const (
-	DefaultMaxFailures = 10
-)
-
 var (
 	flAPIDisabled = cli.BoolFlag{
 		Name:  "disable-api, d",
diff --git a/scheduler/task.go b/scheduler/task.go
index dbe8a33af..28b672395 100644
--- a/scheduler/task.go
+++ b/scheduler/task.go
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ import (
 const (
 	// DefaultDeadlineDuration - The default timeout is 5 second
 	DefaultDeadlineDuration = time.Second * 5
-	// DefaultStopOnFailure - The default stopping a failure is after three tries
-	DefaultStopOnFailure = 3
+	// DefaultStopOnFailure is used to set the number of failures before a task is disabled
+	DefaultStopOnFailure = 10
 )
 
 var (