diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/search.go b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/search.go
index 63c2cf24507..9ea3a321a36 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/search.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/search.go
@@ -355,6 +355,10 @@ func (s *searchSupport) build(ctx context.Context, nsr NamespacedResource, size
 		return rv, err
 	})
 
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, 0, err
+	}
+
 	// Record the number of objects indexed for the kind/resource
 	docCount, err := index.DocCount()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -364,10 +368,6 @@ func (s *searchSupport) build(ctx context.Context, nsr NamespacedResource, size
 		IndexMetrics.IndexedKinds.WithLabelValues(key.Resource).Add(float64(docCount))
 	}
 
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, 0, err
-	}
-
 	if err == nil {
 		err = index.Flush()
 	}