diff --git a/all/build.gradle b/all/build.gradle
index 5cd86feb47..060a8d0ae2 100644
--- a/all/build.gradle
+++ b/all/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.github.kt3k.coveralls"
diff --git a/alts/build.gradle b/alts/build.gradle
index 4b06db9e5d..3d510205bb 100644
--- a/alts/build.gradle
+++ b/alts/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.github.johnrengelman.shadow"
diff --git a/api/build.gradle b/api/build.gradle
index ce4662904c..aecda52442 100644
--- a/api/build.gradle
+++ b/api/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.jmh"
diff --git a/auth/build.gradle b/auth/build.gradle
index a95d141962..808766a23c 100644
--- a/auth/build.gradle
+++ b/auth/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/benchmarks/build.gradle b/benchmarks/build.gradle
index a91c7b26e1..7aef7870e3 100644
--- a/benchmarks/build.gradle
+++ b/benchmarks/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 plugins {
     id "application"
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 7591959fd7..7c41ffd644 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import net.ltgt.gradle.errorprone.CheckSeverity
 
 subprojects {
     apply plugin: "checkstyle"
-    apply plugin: "java"
     apply plugin: "maven"
     apply plugin: "idea"
     apply plugin: "signing"
@@ -20,30 +19,10 @@ subprojects {
     apply plugin: "ru.vyarus.animalsniffer"
 
     apply plugin: "net.ltgt.errorprone"
-    if (rootProject.properties.get('errorProne', true)) {
-        dependencies {
-            errorprone 'com.google.errorprone:error_prone_core:2.3.3'
-            errorproneJavac 'com.google.errorprone:javac:9+181-r4173-1'
-
-            annotationProcessor 'com.google.guava:guava-beta-checker:1.0'
-        }
-    } else {
-        // Disable Error Prone
-        allprojects {
-            afterEvaluate { project ->
-                project.tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
-                    options.errorprone.enabled = false
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    }
 
     group = "io.grpc"
     version = "1.25.0-SNAPSHOT" // CURRENT_GRPC_VERSION
 
-    sourceCompatibility = 1.7
-    targetCompatibility = 1.7
-
     repositories {
         maven { // The google mirror is less flaky than mavenCentral()
             url "https://maven-central.storage-download.googleapis.com/repos/central/data/" }
@@ -63,31 +42,6 @@ subprojects {
         }
     }
 
-    compileTestJava {
-        // serialVersionUID is basically guaranteed to be useless in our tests
-        options.compilerArgs += [
-            "-Xlint:-serial"
-        ]
-        // LinkedList doesn't hurt much in tests and has lots of usages
-        options.errorprone.check("JdkObsolete", CheckSeverity.OFF)
-    }
-
-    jar.manifest {
-        attributes('Implementation-Title': name,
-        'Implementation-Version': version,
-        'Built-By': System.getProperty('user.name'),
-        'Built-JDK': System.getProperty('java.version'),
-        'Source-Compatibility': sourceCompatibility,
-        'Target-Compatibility': targetCompatibility)
-    }
-
-    javadoc.options {
-        encoding = 'UTF-8'
-        use = true
-        links 'https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/'
-        source = "8"
-    }
-
     ext {
         def exeSuffix = osdetector.os == 'windows' ? ".exe" : ""
         protocPluginBaseName = 'protoc-gen-grpc-java'
@@ -233,12 +187,6 @@ subprojects {
         }
     }
 
-    dependencies {
-        testCompile libraries.junit,
-                libraries.mockito,
-                libraries.truth
-    }
-
     // Disable JavaDoc doclint on Java 8. It's annoying.
     if (JavaVersion.current().isJava8Compatible()) {
         allprojects {
@@ -268,12 +216,81 @@ subprojects {
         }
     }
 
-    checkstyleMain {
-        source = fileTree(dir: "src/main", include: "**/*.java")
-    }
+    plugins.withId("java") {
+        sourceCompatibility = 1.7
+        targetCompatibility = 1.7
 
-    checkstyleTest {
-        source = fileTree(dir: "src/test", include: "**/*.java")
+        dependencies {
+            testCompile libraries.junit,
+                    libraries.mockito,
+                    libraries.truth
+        }
+
+        compileTestJava {
+            // serialVersionUID is basically guaranteed to be useless in our tests
+            options.compilerArgs += [
+                "-Xlint:-serial"
+            ]
+        }
+
+        jar.manifest {
+            attributes('Implementation-Title': name,
+            'Implementation-Version': version,
+            'Built-By': System.getProperty('user.name'),
+            'Built-JDK': System.getProperty('java.version'),
+            'Source-Compatibility': sourceCompatibility,
+            'Target-Compatibility': targetCompatibility)
+        }
+
+        javadoc.options {
+            encoding = 'UTF-8'
+            use = true
+            links 'https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/'
+            source = "8"
+        }
+
+        checkstyleMain {
+            source = fileTree(dir: "src/main", include: "**/*.java")
+        }
+
+        checkstyleTest {
+            source = fileTree(dir: "src/test", include: "**/*.java")
+        }
+
+        // At a test failure, log the stack trace to the console so that we don't
+        // have to open the HTML in a browser.
+        test {
+            testLogging {
+                exceptionFormat = 'full'
+                showExceptions true
+                showCauses true
+                showStackTraces true
+            }
+            maxHeapSize = '1500m'
+        }
+
+        if (rootProject.properties.get('errorProne', true)) {
+            dependencies {
+                errorprone 'com.google.errorprone:error_prone_core:2.3.3'
+                errorproneJavac 'com.google.errorprone:javac:9+181-r4173-1'
+
+                annotationProcessor 'com.google.guava:guava-beta-checker:1.0'
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Disable Error Prone
+            allprojects {
+                afterEvaluate { project ->
+                    project.tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
+                        options.errorprone.enabled = false
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        compileTestJava {
+            // LinkedList doesn't hurt much in tests and has lots of usages
+            options.errorprone.check("JdkObsolete", CheckSeverity.OFF)
+        }
     }
 
     plugins.withId("me.champeau.gradle.jmh") {
@@ -300,27 +317,10 @@ subprojects {
     }
 
     plugins.withId("maven-publish") {
-        task javadocJar(type: Jar) {
-            classifier = 'javadoc'
-            from javadoc
-        }
-
-        task sourcesJar(type: Jar) {
-            classifier = 'sources'
-            from sourceSets.main.allSource
-        }
-
         publishing {
             publications {
                 // do not use mavenJava, as java plugin will modify it via "magic"
                 maven(MavenPublication) {
-                    if (project.name != 'grpc-netty-shaded') {
-                        from components.java
-                    }
-
-                    artifact javadocJar
-                    artifact sourcesJar
-
                     pom {
                         name = project.group + ":" + project.name
                         url = 'https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java'
@@ -400,18 +400,31 @@ subprojects {
             required false
             sign publishing.publications.maven
         }
-    }
 
-    // At a test failure, log the stack trace to the console so that we don't
-    // have to open the HTML in a browser.
-    test {
-        testLogging {
-            exceptionFormat = 'full'
-            showExceptions true
-            showCauses true
-            showStackTraces true
+        plugins.withId("java") {
+            task javadocJar(type: Jar) {
+                classifier = 'javadoc'
+                from javadoc
+            }
+
+            task sourcesJar(type: Jar) {
+                classifier = 'sources'
+                from sourceSets.main.allSource
+            }
+
+            publishing {
+                publications {
+                    maven {
+                        if (project.name != 'grpc-netty-shaded') {
+                            from components.java
+                        }
+
+                        artifact javadocJar
+                        artifact sourcesJar
+                    }
+                }
+            }
         }
-        maxHeapSize = '1500m'
     }
 
     // Run with: ./gradlew japicmp --continue
diff --git a/compiler/build.gradle b/compiler/build.gradle
index 1b0a21037f..ad2a609b6e 100644
--- a/compiler/build.gradle
+++ b/compiler/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 plugins {
     id "cpp"
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/context/build.gradle b/context/build.gradle
index dbde77aa2c..6903bcf03a 100644
--- a/context/build.gradle
+++ b/context/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/core/build.gradle b/core/build.gradle
index 4e0ef7dee0..2f734ca527 100644
--- a/core/build.gradle
+++ b/core/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
@@ -7,6 +8,9 @@ plugins {
 
 description = 'gRPC: Core'
 
+evaluationDependsOn(project(':grpc-context').path)
+evaluationDependsOn(project(':grpc-api').path)
+
 dependencies {
     compile project(':grpc-api'),
             libraries.gson,
diff --git a/grpclb/build.gradle b/grpclb/build.gradle
index c044e72091..bf5a9ca906 100644
--- a/grpclb/build.gradle
+++ b/grpclb/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
@@ -7,6 +8,8 @@ plugins {
 
 description = "gRPC: GRPCLB LoadBalancer plugin"
 
+evaluationDependsOn(project(':grpc-core').path)
+
 dependencies {
     compile project(':grpc-core'),
             project(':grpc-protobuf'),
diff --git a/interop-testing/build.gradle b/interop-testing/build.gradle
index 2178705c43..369dcc11f4 100644
--- a/interop-testing/build.gradle
+++ b/interop-testing/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 plugins {
     id "application"
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/netty/build.gradle b/netty/build.gradle
index 9076c7f0ac..374504e14b 100644
--- a/netty/build.gradle
+++ b/netty/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/netty/shaded/build.gradle b/netty/shaded/build.gradle
index 609e6c3c28..1ecc36d970 100644
--- a/netty/shaded/build.gradle
+++ b/netty/shaded/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.github.johnrengelman.shadow"
diff --git a/okhttp/build.gradle b/okhttp/build.gradle
index c88bf262a3..1cf98513a0 100644
--- a/okhttp/build.gradle
+++ b/okhttp/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/protobuf-lite/build.gradle b/protobuf-lite/build.gradle
index 217f08795b..9bbe108529 100644
--- a/protobuf-lite/build.gradle
+++ b/protobuf-lite/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/protobuf/build.gradle b/protobuf/build.gradle
index fb1ca70c54..45e0c637cc 100644
--- a/protobuf/build.gradle
+++ b/protobuf/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/services/build.gradle b/services/build.gradle
index cac01f3d9a..03f7a6de75 100644
--- a/services/build.gradle
+++ b/services/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/stub/build.gradle b/stub/build.gradle
index 8a4e1e357c..24df11721b 100644
--- a/stub/build.gradle
+++ b/stub/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/testing-proto/build.gradle b/testing-proto/build.gradle
index 25a717bf3f..8ff8ccc6c0 100644
--- a/testing-proto/build.gradle
+++ b/testing-proto/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.google.protobuf"
diff --git a/testing/build.gradle b/testing/build.gradle
index c156c7b45e..e64611d9eb 100644
--- a/testing/build.gradle
+++ b/testing/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "me.champeau.gradle.japicmp"
diff --git a/xds/build.gradle b/xds/build.gradle
index fb98b48cd0..7a111e8839 100644
--- a/xds/build.gradle
+++ b/xds/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
+    id "java"
     id "maven-publish"
 
     id "com.github.johnrengelman.shadow"