Pass a boolean argument to the bulkload to decides if checking for an empty index is needed.
diff --git a/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java b/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
index fcdf654..dacb432 100644
--- a/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
+++ b/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@
         typeTraits[1] = new TypeTraits(false);
         TreeIndexBulkLoadOperatorDescriptor btreeBulkLoad = new TreeIndexBulkLoadOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 storageManagerInterface, lcManagerProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits, comparatorFactories, null,
-                fieldPermutation, DEFAULT_BTREE_FILL_FACTOR, false, 0, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(),
+                fieldPermutation, DEFAULT_BTREE_FILL_FACTOR, false, 0, false, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(),
                 NoOpOperationCallbackFactory.INSTANCE);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, btreeBulkLoad);
 
diff --git a/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java b/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
index 24a96a3..4c7f91d 100644
--- a/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
+++ b/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@
             typeTraits[i] = new TypeTraits(false);
         TreeIndexBulkLoadOperatorDescriptor writer = new TreeIndexBulkLoadOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 storageManagerInterface, lcManagerProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits, comparatorFactories, null,
-                fieldPermutation, DEFAULT_BTREE_FILL_FACTOR, false, 0, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(),
+                fieldPermutation, DEFAULT_BTREE_FILL_FACTOR, false, 0, false, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(),
                 NoOpOperationCallbackFactory.INSTANCE);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, NC1_ID, NC2_ID);
 
diff --git a/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/TreeIndexBulkReLoadOperatorNodePushable.java b/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/TreeIndexBulkReLoadOperatorNodePushable.java
index 208d41c..e3d89d5 100644
--- a/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/TreeIndexBulkReLoadOperatorNodePushable.java
+++ b/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/TreeIndexBulkReLoadOperatorNodePushable.java
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
         treeIndexOpHelper.open();
         try {
             index = (ITreeIndex) treeIndexOpHelper.getIndexInstance();
-            bulkLoader = index.createBulkLoader(fillFactor, false, 0);
+            bulkLoader = index.createBulkLoader(fillFactor, false, 0, false);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             // cleanup in case of failure
             treeIndexOpHelper.close();