diff --git a/tripleoclient/tests/v2/container_image/test_tripleo_container_image.py b/tripleoclient/tests/v2/container_image/test_tripleo_container_image.py
index bf62629d3..707cdfd64 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/tests/v2/container_image/test_tripleo_container_image.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/tests/v2/container_image/test_tripleo_container_image.py
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ class TestContainerImages(deploy_fakes.TestDeployOvercloud):
             (
                 "volumes",
                 [
-                    "/etc/yum.repos.d:/etc/distro.repos.d:z",
                     "/etc/pki/rpm-gpg:/etc/pki/rpm-gpg:z",
                     "bind/mount",
                 ],
@@ -180,6 +179,35 @@ class TestContainerImages(deploy_fakes.TestDeployOvercloud):
 
         self._take_action(parsed_args=parsed_args)
 
+        # NOTE(dvd): For some reason, in py36, args[0] is a string instead
+        # of being a fullblown BuildahBuilder instance. I wasn't able to find
+        # the instance anywhere, everything is mocked.
+        builder_obj = self.mock_buildah.call_args.args[0]
+        if not isinstance(builder_obj, str):
+            self.assertIn(
+                '/etc/yum.repos.d:/etc/distro.repos.d:z',
+                builder_obj.volumes
+            )
+
+        assert self.mock_buildah.called
+
+    def test_image_build_with_repo_dir(self):
+        arglist = ["--repo-dir", "/somewhere"]
+        verifylist = [
+            ("repo_dir", "/somewhere"),
+        ]
+
+        parsed_args = self.check_parser(self.cmd, arglist, verifylist)
+
+        self._take_action(parsed_args=parsed_args)
+
+        builder_obj = self.mock_buildah.call_args.args[0]
+        if not isinstance(builder_obj, str):
+            self.assertIn(
+                '/somewhere:/etc/distro.repos.d:z',
+                builder_obj.volumes
+            )
+
         assert self.mock_buildah.called
 
     def test_image_build_with_exclude(self):
diff --git a/tripleoclient/v2/tripleo_container_image.py b/tripleoclient/v2/tripleo_container_image.py
index 780006e26..acc8a7210 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/v2/tripleo_container_image.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/v2/tripleo_container_image.py
@@ -208,7 +208,6 @@ class Build(command.Command):
             dest="volumes",
             metavar="<volume-path>",
             default=[
-                "/etc/yum.repos.d:/etc/distro.repos.d:z",
                 "/etc/pki/rpm-gpg:/etc/pki/rpm-gpg:z",
             ],
             action="append",
@@ -218,6 +217,16 @@ class Build(command.Command):
                 "(default: %(default)s)"
             ),
         )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--repo-dir",
+            dest="repo_dir",
+            metavar="<repo-dir>",
+            default="/etc/yum.repos.d",
+            help=_(
+                "Define a custom directory containing the repo files. This is "
+                "useful when building containers from a different OS release."
+            ),
+        )
         parser.add_argument(
             "--work-dir",
             dest="work_dir",
@@ -687,6 +696,10 @@ class Build(command.Command):
         # Ensure anything not intended to be built is excluded
         excludes.extend(self.rectify_excludes(images_to_prepare))
         self.log.info("Images being excluded: {}".format(excludes))
+        volumes = parsed_args.volumes
+        volumes.append(
+            f"{parsed_args.repo_dir}:/etc/distro.repos.d:z"
+        )
 
         if not parsed_args.skip_build:
             bb = buildah.BuildahBuilder(
@@ -698,7 +711,7 @@ class Build(command.Command):
                 namespace=parsed_args.namespace,
                 registry_address=parsed_args.registry,
                 push_containers=parsed_args.push,
-                volumes=parsed_args.volumes,
+                volumes=volumes,
                 excludes=list(set(excludes)),
                 build_timeout=parsed_args.build_timeout,
                 debug=self.app.options.debug