diff --git a/layers/+spacemacs/spacemacs-modeline/packages.el b/layers/+spacemacs/spacemacs-modeline/packages.el
index 1ffd321b7..d5cc597f4 100644
--- a/layers/+spacemacs/spacemacs-modeline/packages.el
+++ b/layers/+spacemacs/spacemacs-modeline/packages.el
@@ -72,11 +72,16 @@
                      (spacemacs/mode-line-separator))
                 'wave)
             powerline-image-apple-rgb (spacemacs/system-is-mac)
-            powerline-scale (or (spacemacs/mode-line-separator-scale) 1.5)
-            powerline-height (spacemacs/compute-mode-line-height))
+            powerline-scale (or (spacemacs/mode-line-separator-scale) 1.5))
       (spacemacs|do-after-display-system-init
        ;; seems to be needed to avoid weird graphical artefacts with the
        ;; first graphical client
+       ;;
+       ;; It is important that no functions that do font measurements are
+       ;; called outside of this hook or the results will be wrong if spacemacs
+       ;; is started in daemon mode (emacs --daemon). This is why the height
+       ;; is computed here
+       (setq powerline-height (spacemacs/compute-mode-line-height))
        (require 'spaceline)
        (spaceline-compile)))
     :config