diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/command/BuildImageCmd.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/command/BuildImageCmd.java
index 62d8abed6..becaeccc6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/command/BuildImageCmd.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/command/BuildImageCmd.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.github.dockerjava.api.command;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 
@@ -26,9 +27,11 @@ public interface BuildImageCmd extends DockerCmd<BuildImageCmd.Response>{
 	public boolean hasRemoveEnabled();
 
 	public boolean isQuiet();
-	
+
 	public AuthConfigurations getBuildAuthConfigs();
 	
+    public BuildImageCmd withDockerfile(File dockerfile);
+	
 	public BuildImageCmd withTarInputStream(InputStream tarInputStream);
 
 	public BuildImageCmd withNoCache();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientImpl.java
index 4adf50793..0dd560af3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientImpl.java
@@ -292,9 +292,9 @@ public CommitCmd commitCmd(String containerId) {
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public BuildImageCmd buildImageCmd(File dockerFolder) {
+	public BuildImageCmd buildImageCmd(File dockerFileOrFolder) {
 		return new BuildImageCmdImpl(getDockerCmdExecFactory()
-				.createBuildImageCmdExec(), dockerFolder);
+				.createBuildImageCmdExec(), dockerFileOrFolder);
 	}
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/command/BuildImageCmdImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/command/BuildImageCmdImpl.java
index 9f57bd74a..c793ed6e6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/command/BuildImageCmdImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/command/BuildImageCmdImpl.java
@@ -25,19 +25,18 @@ public class BuildImageCmdImpl extends AbstrDockerCmd<BuildImageCmd, BuildImageC
 	private boolean quiet;
 	private AuthConfigurations buildAuthConfigs;
 
-	public BuildImageCmdImpl(BuildImageCmd.Exec exec, File dockerFolder) {
+    public BuildImageCmdImpl(BuildImageCmd.Exec exec) {
+        super(exec);
+    }
+
+    public BuildImageCmdImpl(BuildImageCmd.Exec exec, File dockerFileOrFolder) {
 		super(exec);
-		checkNotNull(dockerFolder, "dockerFolder is null");
+		checkNotNull(dockerFileOrFolder, "dockerFolder is null");
 
-		try {
-			withTarInputStream(
-                            new Dockerfile(new File(dockerFolder, "Dockerfile"))
-                                          .parse()
-                                          .buildDockerFolderTar() );
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-			// we just created the file this should never happen.
-			throw new RuntimeException(e);
-		}
+        if( dockerFileOrFolder.isDirectory() )
+            withDockerfile( new File(dockerFileOrFolder, "Dockerfile"));
+        else
+            withDockerfile( dockerFileOrFolder);
 	}
 
 	public BuildImageCmdImpl(BuildImageCmd.Exec exec, InputStream tarInputStream) {
@@ -51,6 +50,24 @@ public InputStream getTarInputStream() {
 		return tarInputStream;
 	}
 
+    @Override
+    public BuildImageCmdImpl withDockerfile(File dockerfile) {
+        checkNotNull(dockerfile);
+        if( !dockerfile.exists() )
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Dockerfile does not exist");
+
+        try {
+            withTarInputStream(
+                    new Dockerfile(dockerfile)
+                            .parse()
+                            .buildDockerFolderTar() );
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            // we just created the file this should never happen.
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        }
+        return this;
+    }
+
 	@Override
 	public BuildImageCmdImpl withTarInputStream(InputStream tarInputStream) {
 		checkNotNull(tarInputStream, "tarInputStream is null");