diff --git a/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume.go b/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume.go
index 158efd7b5..966caaff3 100644
--- a/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume.go
+++ b/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume.go
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@ package csimanager
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-hclog"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/mount"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/plugins/csi"
 )
@@ -51,6 +54,34 @@ func newVolumeManager(logger hclog.Logger, plugin csi.CSIPlugin, rootDir string,
 	}
 }
 
+func (v *volumeManager) stagingDirForVolume(vol *structs.CSIVolume) string {
+	return filepath.Join(v.mountRoot, StagingDirName, vol.ID, "todo-provide-usage-options")
+}
+
+// ensureStagingDir attempts to create a directory for use when staging a volume
+// and then validates that the path is not already a mount point for e.g an
+// existing volume stage.
+//
+// Returns whether the directory is a pre-existing mountpoint, the staging path,
+// and any errors that occured.
+func (v *volumeManager) ensureStagingDir(vol *structs.CSIVolume) (bool, string, error) {
+	stagingPath := v.stagingDirForVolume(vol)
+
+	// Make the staging path, owned by the Nomad User
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(stagingPath, 0700); err != nil && !os.IsExist(err) {
+		return false, "", fmt.Errorf("failed to create staging directory for volume (%s): %v", vol.ID, err)
+	}
+
+	// Validate that it is not already a mount point
+	m := mount.New()
+	isNotMount, err := m.IsNotAMountPoint(stagingPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, "", fmt.Errorf("mount point detection failed for volume (%s): %v", vol.ID, err)
+	}
+
+	return !isNotMount, stagingPath, nil
+}
+
 // MountVolume performs the steps required for using a given volume
 // configuration for the provided allocation.
 //
diff --git a/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume_test.go b/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f69fc5d1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/pluginmanager/csimanager/volume_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+package csimanager
+
+import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"runtime"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/testlog"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
+	csifake "github.com/hashicorp/nomad/plugins/csi/fake"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func tmpDir(t testing.TB) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "nomad")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	return dir
+}
+
+func TestVolumeManager_ensureStagingDir(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	cases := []struct {
+		Name                 string
+		Volume               *structs.CSIVolume
+		CreateDirAheadOfTime bool
+		MountDirAheadOfTime  bool
+
+		ExpectedErr        error
+		ExpectedMountState bool
+	}{
+		{
+			Name:   "Creates a directory when one does not exist",
+			Volume: &structs.CSIVolume{ID: "foo"},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:                 "Does not fail because of a pre-existing directory",
+			Volume:               &structs.CSIVolume{ID: "foo"},
+			CreateDirAheadOfTime: true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name:   "Returns negative mount info",
+			Volume: &structs.CSIVolume{ID: "foo"},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:                 "Returns positive mount info",
+			Volume:               &structs.CSIVolume{ID: "foo"},
+			CreateDirAheadOfTime: true,
+			MountDirAheadOfTime:  true,
+			ExpectedMountState:   true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			// Step 1: Validate that the test case makes sense
+			if !tc.CreateDirAheadOfTime && tc.MountDirAheadOfTime {
+				require.Fail(t, "Cannot Mount without creating a dir")
+			}
+
+			if tc.MountDirAheadOfTime {
+				// We can enable these tests by either mounting a fake device on linux
+				// e.g shipping a small ext4 image file and using that as a loopback
+				//     device, but there's no convenient way to implement this.
+				t.Skip("TODO: Skipped because we don't detect bind mounts")
+			}
+
+			// Step 2: Test Setup
+			tmpPath := tmpDir(t)
+			defer os.RemoveAll(tmpPath)
+
+			csiFake := &csifake.Client{}
+			manager := newVolumeManager(testlog.HCLogger(t), csiFake, tmpPath, true)
+			expectedStagingPath := manager.stagingDirForVolume(tc.Volume)
+
+			if tc.CreateDirAheadOfTime {
+				err := os.MkdirAll(expectedStagingPath, 0700)
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			}
+
+			// Step 3: Now we can do some testing
+
+			detectedMount, path, testErr := manager.ensureStagingDir(tc.Volume)
+			if tc.ExpectedErr != nil {
+				require.EqualError(t, testErr, tc.ExpectedErr.Error())
+				return // We don't perform extra validation if an error was detected.
+			}
+
+			require.NoError(t, testErr)
+			require.Equal(t, tc.ExpectedMountState, detectedMount)
+
+			// If the ensureStagingDir call had to create a directory itself, then here
+			// we validate that the directory exists and its permissions
+			if !tc.CreateDirAheadOfTime {
+				file, err := os.Lstat(path)
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+				require.True(t, file.IsDir())
+
+				// TODO: Figure out a windows equivalent of this test
+				if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+					require.Equal(t, os.FileMode(0700), file.Mode().Perm())
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}