diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9a5c0de1d..c18013a1a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ ifndef GOARCH
 GOARCH := $(shell go env GOARCH 2>/dev/null)
 endif
 
-ifdef BASE_IMAGE
-BASE_IMAGE_ARG = --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=$(BASE_IMAGE)
-endif
+BASE_IMAGE ?= $(shell . $(CURDIR)/build.env ; echo $${BASE_IMAGE})
 
 # passing TARGET=static-check on the 'make containerized-test' or 'make
 # containerized-build' commandline will run the selected target instead of
@@ -133,7 +131,7 @@ containerized-test: .test-container-id
 # create a (cached) container image with dependencied for building cephcsi
 .devel-container-id: scripts/Dockerfile.devel
 	[ ! -f .devel-container-id ] || $(CONTAINER_CMD) rmi $(CSI_IMAGE_NAME):devel
-	$(CONTAINER_CMD) build $(CPUSET) -t $(CSI_IMAGE_NAME):devel -f ./scripts/Dockerfile.devel .
+	$(CONTAINER_CMD) build $(CPUSET) --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=$(BASE_IMAGE) -t $(CSI_IMAGE_NAME):devel -f ./scripts/Dockerfile.devel .
 	$(CONTAINER_CMD) inspect -f '{{.Id}}' $(CSI_IMAGE_NAME):devel > .devel-container-id
 
 # create a (cached) container image with dependencied for testing cephcsi
@@ -143,7 +141,7 @@ containerized-test: .test-container-id
 	$(CONTAINER_CMD) inspect -f '{{.Id}}' $(CSI_IMAGE_NAME):test > .test-container-id
 
 image-cephcsi:
-	$(CONTAINER_CMD) build $(CPUSET) -t $(CSI_IMAGE) -f deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile . --build-arg CSI_IMAGE_NAME=$(CSI_IMAGE_NAME) --build-arg CSI_IMAGE_VERSION=$(CSI_IMAGE_VERSION) --build-arg GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) --build-arg GO_ARCH=$(GOARCH) $(BASE_IMAGE_ARG)
+	$(CONTAINER_CMD) build $(CPUSET) -t $(CSI_IMAGE) -f deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile . --build-arg CSI_IMAGE_NAME=$(CSI_IMAGE_NAME) --build-arg CSI_IMAGE_VERSION=$(CSI_IMAGE_VERSION) --build-arg GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) --build-arg GO_ARCH=$(GOARCH) --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=$(BASE_IMAGE)
 
 push-image-cephcsi: image-cephcsi
 	$(CONTAINER_CMD) tag $(CSI_IMAGE) $(CSI_IMAGE)-$(GOARCH)
diff --git a/build.env b/build.env
index 6156754bb..ecce0c471 100644
--- a/build.env
+++ b/build.env
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 # get proporly expanded.
 #
 
+# Ceph version to use
+BASE_IMAGE=ceph/ceph:v15
+
 # standard Golang options
 GOLANG_VERSION=1.13.9
 GO111MODULE=on
diff --git a/deploy.sh b/deploy.sh
index b4ba8c723..07e8b47e7 100755
--- a/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ push_helm_charts() {
 }
 
 # Build and push images. Steps as below:
-# 1. get base image from original Dockerfile (FROM ceph/ceph:v14.2)
+# 1. get base image from ./build.env (BASE_IMAGE=ceph/ceph:v14.2)
 # 2. parse manifest to get image digest per arch (sha256:XXX, sha256:YYY)
 # 3. patch Dockerfile with amd64 base image (FROM ceph/ceph:v14.2@sha256:XXX)
 # 4. build and push amd64 image
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ build_push_images() {
 	# "docker manifest" requires experimental feature enabled
 	export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
 
-	dockerfile="deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile"
-	baseimg=$(awk -F = '/^ARG BASE_IMAGE=/ {print $NF}' "${dockerfile}")
+	build_env="build.env"
+	baseimg=$(awk -F = '/^BASE_IMAGE=/ {print $NF}' "${build_env}")
 
 	# get image digest per architecture
 	# {
diff --git a/deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile b/deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile
index c8438f768..3f9842cbe 100644
--- a/deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ARG SRC_DIR="/go/src/github.com/ceph/ceph-csi/"
 ARG GO_ARCH
-ARG BASE_IMAGE=ceph/ceph:v15
+ARG BASE_IMAGE
 
 FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as builder
 
diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile.devel b/scripts/Dockerfile.devel
index 0c1494ae4..d4d81f98b 100644
--- a/scripts/Dockerfile.devel
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile.devel
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-FROM ceph/ceph:v15
+ARG BASE_IMAGE
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 
 ARG GOROOT=/usr/local/go
 
diff --git a/scripts/build-multi-arch-image.sh b/scripts/build-multi-arch-image.sh
index 08656d1b4..38d138c78 100755
--- a/scripts/build-multi-arch-image.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-multi-arch-image.sh
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
 cd "$(dirname "${0}")/.."
 
 # ceph base image used for building multi architecture images
-dockerfile="deploy/cephcsi/image/Dockerfile"
-baseimg=$(awk -F = '/^ARG BASE_IMAGE=/ {print $NF}' "${dockerfile}")
+build_env="build.env"
+baseimg=$(awk -F = '/^BASE_IMAGE=/ {print $NF}' "${build_env}")
 
 # get image digest per architecture
 # {