diff --git a/apps/monitor/src/runner.rs b/apps/monitor/src/runner.rs
index c71b505..bac76ad 100644
--- a/apps/monitor/src/runner.rs
+++ b/apps/monitor/src/runner.rs
@@ -66,6 +66,10 @@ async fn run_check(client: &reqwest::Client, monitor: &Monitor, scheduled_at: Op
 
     let start = Instant::now();
 
+    // Build request with method, headers, body, timeout
+    let method = monitor.method.as_deref().unwrap_or("GET").to_uppercase();
+    let timeout = std::time::Duration::from_millis(monitor.timeout_ms.unwrap_or(30000));
+
     // Check cert expiry for HTTPS URLs — bounded by the same timeout
     let cert_expiry_days = if monitor.url.starts_with("https://") {
         match tokio::time::timeout(timeout, check_cert_expiry(&monitor.url)).await {
@@ -76,10 +80,6 @@ async fn run_check(client: &reqwest::Client, monitor: &Monitor, scheduled_at: Op
         None
     };
 
-    // Build request with method, headers, body, timeout
-    let method = monitor.method.as_deref().unwrap_or("GET").to_uppercase();
-    let timeout = std::time::Duration::from_millis(monitor.timeout_ms.unwrap_or(30000));
-
     let req_method = reqwest::Method::from_bytes(method.as_bytes())
         .unwrap_or(reqwest::Method::GET);