diff --git a/lib/conf.js b/lib/conf.js
index 277462f46..17983e4c2 100644
--- a/lib/conf.js
+++ b/lib/conf.js
@@ -87,8 +87,11 @@ config = require("nomnom").options({
     default: 'sitespeed-result',
     help: 'The result base directory',
     callback: function(file) {
-      if (!fs.existsSync(file))
-        return "Couldn't find the basedir:" + file;
+      if (!fs.existsSync(file)) {
+        fs.mkdirs(file, function(err){
+          if (err) return console.error("Couldn't create the result base dir:" + err);
+          });
+      }
     }
   },
   userAgent: {
@@ -285,15 +288,19 @@ config.run = {};
 config.run.date = new Date();
 
 // Setup the absolute result dir
+
+var startPath = (config.resultBaseDir.charAt(0) === path.sep) ? config.resultBaseDir : path.join(__dirname, '../',
+  config.resultBaseDir);
+
 if (config.url) {
   config.urlObject = urlParser.parse(config.url);
-  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(__dirname, '../',config.resultBaseDir, config.urlObject.hostname, dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss") );
+    config.run.absResultDir = path.join(startPath, config.urlObject.hostname, dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss") );
 } else if (config.file) {
   // TODO handle the file name in a good way if it contains chars that will not fit in a dir
-  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(__dirname, '../',config.resultBaseDir, config.file, dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss") );
+  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(startPath, config.file, dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss") );
 } else if (config.sites) {
   // The log file will end up here
-  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(__dirname, '../',config.resultBaseDir, 'sites', dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss"));
+  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(startPath, 'sites', dateFormat(config.run.date, "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss"));
 }
 
 // Parse the proxy info as a real URL
diff --git a/lib/runner.js b/lib/runner.js
index a2a104d2c..a0437326d 100644
--- a/lib/runner.js
+++ b/lib/runner.js
@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ Runner.prototype._setupConfigurationForSite = function(args, cb) {
   var url = args.url;
   config.url = url;
   config.urlObject = urlParser.parse(config.url);
-  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(__dirname, '../', config.resultBaseDir, 'sites', dateFormat(config.run.date,
+
+  var startPath = (config.resultBaseDir.charAt(0) === path.sep) ? config.resultBaseDir : path.join(__dirname, '../',
+    config.resultBaseDir);
+
+  config.run.absResultDir = path.join(startPath, 'sites', dateFormat(config.run.date,
     "yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-ss"), config.urlObject.hostname);
   // setup the directories needed
   var dataDir = path.join(config.run.absResultDir, config.dataDir);