diff --git a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManager.java b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManager.java
index 713880229281..311ce9575c2e 100644
--- a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManager.java
+++ b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManager.java
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public class BigtableResourceManager implements ResourceManager {
   private final Set<String> cdcEnabledTables;
 
   private boolean hasInstance;
-  private Iterable<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> clusters;
+  private List<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> clusters;
 
   private final boolean usingStaticInstance;
 
@@ -195,12 +195,12 @@ public String getInstanceId() {
   /**
    * Creates a Bigtable instance in which all clusters, nodes and tables will exist.
    *
-   * @param clusters Collection of BigtableResourceManagerCluster objects to associate with the
-   *     given Bigtable instance.
+   * @param clusters List of BigtableResourceManagerCluster objects to associate with the given
+   *     Bigtable instance.
    * @throws BigtableResourceManagerException if there is an error creating the instance in
    *     Bigtable.
    */
-  public synchronized void createInstance(Iterable<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> clusters)
+  public synchronized void createInstance(List<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> clusters)
       throws BigtableResourceManagerException {
 
     // Check to see if instance already exists, and throw error if it does
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ public List<String> getClusterNames() {
   }
 
   private Iterable<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> getClusters() {
-    if (usingStaticInstance && this.clusters == null) {
+    if (usingStaticInstance && this.clusters.isEmpty()) {
       try (BigtableInstanceAdminClient instanceAdminClient =
           bigtableResourceManagerClientFactory.bigtableInstanceAdminClient()) {
         List<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> managedClusters = new ArrayList<>();
diff --git a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerUtils.java b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerUtils.java
index a893493d766e..28f1f5bf60c5 100644
--- a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerUtils.java
+++ b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerUtils.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import com.google.cloud.bigtable.admin.v2.models.StorageType;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 
@@ -51,9 +52,9 @@ private BigtableResourceManagerUtils() {}
    * @param zone the zone/region that the cluster will be deployed to.
    * @param numNodes the number of nodes that the cluster will contain.
    * @param storageType the type of storage to configure the cluster with (SSD or HDD).
-   * @return Collection containing a single BigtableResourceManagerCluster object.
+   * @return List containing a single BigtableResourceManagerCluster object.
    */
-  static Iterable<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> generateDefaultClusters(
+  static List<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> generateDefaultClusters(
       String baseString, String zone, int numNodes, StorageType storageType) {
 
     String clusterId =
diff --git a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerTest.java b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerTest.java
index f8673ed696cc..74b25e84c691 100644
--- a/it/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerTest.java
+++ b/it/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/it/gcp/bigtable/BigtableResourceManagerTest.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ public class BigtableResourceManagerTest {
   private static final StorageType CLUSTER_STORAGE_TYPE = StorageType.SSD;
 
   private BigtableResourceManager testManager;
-  private Iterable<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> cluster;
+  private List<BigtableResourceManagerCluster> cluster;
 
   @Before
   public void setUp() throws IOException {