diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e9367f72cb..629b2fbc36 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-FROM debian:buster
+ARG BASE_IMAGE=debian:buster
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
 
diff --git a/build-docker.sh b/build-docker.sh
index c8cdd2cfc3..49da0dd08b 100755
--- a/build-docker.sh
+++ b/build-docker.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ##################################################################################################
 # hoobs-build                                                                                    #
-# Copyright (C) 2019 HOOBS                                                                       #
+# Copyright (C) 2020 HOOBS                                                                       #
 # Copyright (C) 2015 Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd.                                                 #
 #                                                                                                #
 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify                           #
@@ -93,7 +93,16 @@ fi
 # Modify original build-options to allow config file to be mounted in the docker container
 BUILD_OPTS="$(echo "${BUILD_OPTS:-}" | sed -E 's@\-c\s?([^ ]+)@-c /config@')"
 
-${DOCKER} build -t pi-gen "${DIR}"
+# Check the arch of the machine we're running on. If it's 64-bit, use a 32-bit base image instead
+case "$(uname -m)" in
+  x86_64|aarch64)
+    BASE_IMAGE=i386/debian:buster
+    ;;
+  *)
+    BASE_IMAGE=debian:buster
+    ;;
+esac
+${DOCKER} build --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=${BASE_IMAGE} -t pi-gen "${DIR}"
 
 if [ "${CONTAINER_EXISTS}" != "" ]; then
 	trap 'echo "got CTRL+C... please wait 5s" && ${DOCKER} stop -t 5 ${CONTAINER_NAME}_cont' SIGINT SIGTERM