diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceRequest.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceRequest.java
index 03ce5dbf6f20..4e67bcedbd84 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceRequest.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceRequest.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public final class BalanceRequest {
   /**
    * Builder for constructing a {@link BalanceRequest}
    */
-  @InterfaceAudience.Private
+  @InterfaceAudience.Public
   public final static class Builder {
     private boolean dryRun = false;
     private boolean ignoreRegionsInTransition = false;
diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceResponse.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceResponse.java
index 0d8e84b9a0d2..143878209d11 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceResponse.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/BalanceResponse.java
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@
 public final class BalanceResponse {
 
   /**
-   * Builds a {@link BalanceResponse} for returning results of a balance invocation to callers
+   * Used in HMaster to build a {@link BalanceResponse} for returning results of a balance invocation to callers
    */
-  @InterfaceAudience.Public
+  @InterfaceAudience.Private
   public final static class Builder {
     private boolean balancerRan;
     private int movesCalculated;