diff --git a/test/unit/gen/challenge.go b/test/unit/gen/challenge.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b47d77584
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/gen/challenge.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 The Jetstack cert-manager contributors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package gen
+
+import (
+	"github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/pkg/apis/certmanager/v1alpha1"
+)
+
+type ChallengeModifier func(*v1alpha1.Challenge)
+
+func Challenge(name string, mods ...ChallengeModifier) *v1alpha1.Challenge {
+	c := &v1alpha1.Challenge{
+		ObjectMeta: ObjectMeta(name),
+	}
+	for _, mod := range mods {
+		mod(c)
+	}
+	return c
+}
+
+func ChallengeFrom(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge, mods ...ChallengeModifier) *v1alpha1.Challenge {
+	for _, mod := range mods {
+		mod(ch)
+	}
+	return ch
+}
+
+func SetChallengeType(t string) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Spec.Type = t
+	}
+}
+
+// SetIssuer sets the challenge.spec.issuerRef field
+func SetChallengeIssuer(o v1alpha1.ObjectReference) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(c *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		c.Spec.IssuerRef = o
+	}
+}
+
+func SetChallengeDNSName(dnsName string) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Spec.DNSName = dnsName
+	}
+}
+
+func SetChallengePresented(p bool) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Status.Presented = p
+	}
+}
+
+func SetChallengeState(s v1alpha1.State) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Status.State = s
+	}
+}
+
+func SetChallengeReason(s string) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Status.Reason = s
+	}
+}
+
+func SetChallengeURL(s string) ChallengeModifier {
+	return func(ch *v1alpha1.Challenge) {
+		ch.Spec.URL = s
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/unit/gen/doc.go b/test/unit/gen/doc.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d4e50ceb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/gen/doc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 The Jetstack cert-manager contributors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+// package gen implements helper functions to construct API resource test fixtures.
+package gen
diff --git a/test/unit/gen/objectmeta.go b/test/unit/gen/objectmeta.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ef98c3112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/gen/objectmeta.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2018 The Jetstack cert-manager contributors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package gen
+
+import (
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+)
+
+const (
+	// DefaultTestNamespace is the default namespace set on resources that
+	// are namespaced.
+	DefaultTestNamespace = "default-unit-test-ns"
+)
+
+// ObjectMetaModifier applies a transformation to the provider ObjectMeta
+type ObjectMetaModifier func(*metav1.ObjectMeta)
+
+// ObjectMeta creates a new metav1.ObjectMeta with the given name, optionally
+// applying the provided ObjectMetaModifiers.
+// It applies a DefaultTestNamespace by default.
+// Cluster-scoped resource generators should explicitly add `SetNamespace("")`
+// to their constructors.
+func ObjectMeta(name string, mods ...ObjectMetaModifier) metav1.ObjectMeta {
+	m := &metav1.ObjectMeta{
+		Name:      name,
+		Namespace: DefaultTestNamespace,
+	}
+	for _, mod := range mods {
+		mod(m)
+	}
+	return *m
+}