diff --git a/compose/cli/main.py b/compose/cli/main.py
index 84cae9f539f..0c672eadda0 100644
--- a/compose/cli/main.py
+++ b/compose/cli/main.py
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ class TopLevelCommand(object):
 
     def __init__(self, project, project_dir='.'):
         self.project = project
-        self.project_dir = '.'
+        self.project_dir = project_dir
 
     def build(self, options):
         """