diff --git a/dask_jobqueue/core.py b/dask_jobqueue/core.py
index f81a4480..176bb2a3 100644
--- a/dask_jobqueue/core.py
+++ b/dask_jobqueue/core.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 
+import six
+
 import dask
 import docrep
 from distributed import LocalCluster
@@ -326,7 +328,7 @@ def start_workers(self, n=1):
         for _ in range(num_jobs):
             with self.job_file() as fn:
                 out = self._submit_job(fn)
-                job = self._job_id_from_submit_output(out.decode())
+                job = self._job_id_from_submit_output(out)
                 if not job:
                     raise ValueError('Unable to parse jobid from output of %s' % out)
                 logger.debug("started job: %s", job)
@@ -337,43 +339,49 @@ def scheduler(self):
         """ The scheduler of this cluster """
         return self.local_cluster.scheduler
 
-    def _calls(self, cmds, **kwargs):
-        """ Call a command using subprocess.communicate
+    def _call(self, cmd, **kwargs):
+        """ Call a command using subprocess.Popen.
 
-        This centralizes calls out to the command line, providing consistent outputs, logging, and an opportunity
-        to go asynchronous in the future
+        This centralizes calls out to the command line, providing consistent
+        outputs, logging, and an opportunity to go asynchronous in the future.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
-        cmd: List(List(str))
-            A list of commands, each of which is a list of strings to hand to subprocess.communicate
+        cmd: List(str))
+            A command, each of which is a list of strings to hand to
+            subprocess.Popen
 
         Examples
         --------
-        >>> self._calls([['ls'], ['ls', '/foo']])
+        >>> self._call(['ls', '/foo'])
 
         Returns
         -------
-        The stdout result as a string
-        Also logs any stderr information
-        """
-        logger.debug("Submitting the following calls to command line")
-        procs = []
-        for cmd in cmds:
-            logger.debug(' '.join(cmd))
-            procs.append(subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, **kwargs))
-
-        result = []
-        for proc in procs:
-            out, err = proc.communicate()
-            if err:
-                raise RuntimeError(err.decode())
-            result.append(out)
-        return result
+        The stdout produced by the command, as string.
 
-    def _call(self, cmd, **kwargs):
-        """ Singular version of _calls """
-        return self._calls([cmd], **kwargs)[0]
+        Raises
+        ------
+        RuntimeError if the command exits with a non-zero exit code
+        """
+        cmd_str = ' '.join(cmd)
+        logger.debug("Executing the following command to command line\n{}".format(cmd_str))
+
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd,
+                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                **kwargs)
+
+        out, err = proc.communicate()
+        if six.PY3:
+            out, err = out.decode(), err.decode()
+        if proc.returncode != 0:
+            raise RuntimeError('Command exited with non-zero exit code.\n'
+                               'Exit code: {}\n'
+                               'Command:\n{}\n'
+                               'stdout:\n{}\n'
+                               'stderr:\n{}\n'.format(proc.returncode,
+                                                      cmd_str, out, err))
+        return out
 
     def stop_workers(self, workers):
         """ Stop a list of workers"""
diff --git a/dask_jobqueue/tests/test_jobqueue_core.py b/dask_jobqueue/tests/test_jobqueue_core.py
index 888b2bc3..9ad4ec39 100644
--- a/dask_jobqueue/tests/test_jobqueue_core.py
+++ b/dask_jobqueue/tests/test_jobqueue_core.py
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import os
-import pytest
 import shutil
 import socket
 import sys
+import re
+
+import pytest
 
 from dask_jobqueue import (JobQueueCluster, PBSCluster, MoabCluster,
                            SLURMCluster, SGECluster, LSFCluster)
@@ -107,3 +109,25 @@ def test_log_directory(tmpdir):
     with PBSCluster(cores=1, memory='1GB',
                     log_directory=tmpdir.strpath):
         assert os.path.exists(tmpdir.strpath)
+
+
+def test_jobqueue_cluster_call(tmpdir):
+    cluster = PBSCluster(cores=1, memory='1GB')
+
+    path = tmpdir.join('test.py')
+    path.write('print("this is the stdout")')
+
+    out = cluster._call([sys.executable, path.strpath])
+    assert out == 'this is the stdout\n'
+
+    path_with_error = tmpdir.join('non-zero-exit-code.py')
+    path_with_error.write('print("this is the stdout")\n1/0')
+
+    match = ('Command exited with non-zero exit code.+'
+             'Exit code: 1.+'
+             'stdout:\nthis is the stdout.+'
+             'stderr:.+ZeroDivisionError')
+
+    match = re.compile(match, re.DOTALL)
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match=match):
+        cluster._call([sys.executable, path_with_error.strpath])