diff --git a/nixopsvbox/backends/virtualbox.py b/nixopsvbox/backends/virtualbox.py
index dc13bf8..2506bb1 100644
--- a/nixopsvbox/backends/virtualbox.py
+++ b/nixopsvbox/backends/virtualbox.py
@@ -406,6 +406,7 @@ def create(  # noqa: C901
                             attr='nodes."{0}".config.deployment.virtualbox.disks.{1}.baseImage'.format(self.name, disk_name),
                             pluginNixExprs=PluginManager.nixexprs(),
                         )
+                    self._logged_exec(["nix-build", base_image])
                     self._logged_exec(
                         [
                             "VBoxManage",