diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33b514d050
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#Default env variables for docker compose quickstart
+#defaults are empty values
+RPC_PORT_MAPPING=
+WS_PORT_MAPPING=
+EXPLORER_PORT_MAPPING=
diff --git a/quickstart/docker-compose.yml b/quickstart/docker-compose.yml
index 0054360d28..45510bfa0d 100644
--- a/quickstart/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/quickstart/docker-compose.yml
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - bootnode
     ports:
-      - "8545"
-      - "8546"
+      - "${RPC_PORT_MAPPING}8545"
+      - "${WS_PORT_MAPPING}8546"
   explorer:
     build:
       context: explorer
@@ -48,6 +48,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - rpcnode
     ports:
-      - "3000"
+      - "${EXPLORER_PORT_MAPPING}3000"
 volumes:
   public-keys:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/quickstart/runPantheonPrivateNetwork.sh b/quickstart/runPantheonPrivateNetwork.sh
index 25892117c9..0bb446ee81 100755
--- a/quickstart/runPantheonPrivateNetwork.sh
+++ b/quickstart/runPantheonPrivateNetwork.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,54 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
+me=`basename "$0"`
 
-QUICKSTART_FOLDER=quickstart
+PARAMS=""
+while (( "$#" )); do
+  case "$1" in
+    -h|--help)
+      echo "Usage:"
+      exit 0
+      ;;
+    -s|--skip-build)
+      SKIP_BUILD=true
+      shift 1
+      ;;
+    -d|--use-default-static-ports)
+      export RPC_PORT_MAPPING="8545:"
+      export WS_PORT_MAPPING="8546:"
+      export EXPLORER_PORT_MAPPING="3000:"
 
-me=`basename "$0"`
+      break 2
+      ;;
+    --rpc-port)
+      export RPC_PORT_MAPPING="${2}:"
+      shift 2
+      ;;
+    --ws-port)
+      export WS_PORT_MAPPING="${2}:"
+      shift 2
+      ;;
+    --explorer-port)
+      export EXPLORER_PORT_MAPPING="${2}:"
+      shift 2
+      ;;
+    --) # end argument parsing
+      shift
+      break
+      ;;
+    -*|--*=) # unsupported flags
+      echo "Error: Unsupported flag $1, try ${me} -h or ${me} --help for complete usage help." >&2
+      exit 1
+      ;;
+    *) # preserve positional arguments
+      PARAMS="$PARAMS $1"
+      shift
+      ;;
+  esac
+done
+# set positional arguments in their proper place
+eval set -- "$PARAMS"
+
+QUICKSTART_FOLDER=quickstart
 
 if [ ! -f gradlew ]; then
     echo "Please, run this script from the project root using : ${QUICKSTART_FOLDER}/${me}"
@@ -12,7 +58,10 @@ fi
 COMPOSE_CONFIG_FILE_OPTION="-f ${QUICKSTART_FOLDER}/docker-compose.yml"
 
 # Build and run containers and network
-docker-compose ${COMPOSE_CONFIG_FILE_OPTION} build --force-rm
+
+if [ ! ${SKIP_BUILD} ];then
+  docker-compose ${COMPOSE_CONFIG_FILE_OPTION} build --force-rm
+fi
 docker-compose ${COMPOSE_CONFIG_FILE_OPTION} up -d --scale node=4
 
 ${QUICKSTART_FOLDER}/listQuickstartServices.sh
\ No newline at end of file