diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/utils/normalize-builder-schema.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/utils/normalize-builder-schema.ts
index 47e663088ba0..6941e7d2ad04 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/utils/normalize-builder-schema.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/utils/normalize-builder-schema.ts
@@ -65,5 +65,9 @@ export function normalizeBrowserSchema(
         || [],
     },
     lazyModules: options.lazyModules || [],
+    // Using just `--poll` will result in a value of 0 which is very likely not the intention
+    // A value of 0 is falsy and will disable polling rather then enable
+    // 500 ms is a sensible default in this case
+    poll: options.poll === 0 ? 500 : options.poll,
   };
 }