diff --git a/elements/nova/install.d/nova-source-install/74-nova b/elements/nova/install.d/nova-source-install/74-nova
index 3341dc1ad..2b699a63c 100755
--- a/elements/nova/install.d/nova-source-install/74-nova
+++ b/elements/nova/install.d/nova-source-install/74-nova
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -eux
 
-os-svc-install -u nova -r /opt/stack/nova
+# -s enables system-site-packages explicitly for python-libvirt
+os-svc-install -u nova -r /opt/stack/nova -s
 
 cp /opt/stack/nova/etc/nova/policy.json /etc/nova/policy.json
 cp /opt/stack/nova/etc/nova/api-paste.ini /etc/nova/api-paste.ini
diff --git a/elements/os-svc-install/README.md b/elements/os-svc-install/README.md
index a5309fdc7..b7b6057f3 100644
--- a/elements/os-svc-install/README.md
+++ b/elements/os-svc-install/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 Command line utilities to simplify installation of OpenStack services.
 
 ## os-svc-install
-Given a git repo url, pip-install the repo and all of its python dependencies into a virtualenv under /opt/stack/venvs.
+Given a git repo url, pip-install the repo and all of its python dependencies into a virtualenv.
+NOTE: By default the virtualenv is installed to /opt/stack/venvs/SERVICENAME but this can be customized.
 NOTE: By default services do not autostart until os-svc-enable is called.
 
 ## os-svc-daemon
diff --git a/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-daemon b/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-daemon
index 7181fc96a..d3c9b7105 100755
--- a/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-daemon
+++ b/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-daemon
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ usage() {
   echo "                 default: $DEFAULT_POSTSTART"
   echo "  -e ENV         Environment name=value entries to set in the service/job"
   echo "  -n SERVICENAME Name of job/service file."
+  echo "  -i INSTALLDIR  Optional: virtualenv installation directory. Defaults to: /opt/stack/venvs/<SERVICENAME>"
   echo "  -u RUNAS       User to run main executable as."
   echo "  -c RUNCMD      Command to execute. Must stay in foreground."
   echo "     arg...      Arguments will be passed to COMMAND"
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ usage() {
 
 # Can be set in environment now
 SERVICENAME=${SERVICENAME:-""}
+INSTALLDIR=
 RUNAS=${RUNAS:-""}
 RUNCMD=${RUNCMD:-""}
 ENV=${ENV:-""}
@@ -44,9 +46,10 @@ print_to_file() {
 OUTPUT=print_to_file
 
 nshift=0
-while getopts "phds:n:u:c:e:" opt; do
+while getopts "phds:n:i:u:c:e:" opt; do
     case "$opt" in
         n) SERVICENAME=$OPTARG;;
+        i) INSTALLDIR=$OPTARG;;
         u) RUNAS=$OPTARG;;
         c) RUNCMD=$OPTARG;;
         s) POSTSTART=$OPTARG;;
@@ -72,12 +75,18 @@ fi
 [ -n "$RUNAS" ] || { RUNAS=$1 ; shift; }
 [ -n "$RUNCMD" ] || { RUNCMD=$1 ; shift; }
 
+# if INSTALLDIR isn't set use /opt/stack/venvs/RUNAS
+# NOTE: this was our default before adding the -i option
+if [ -z "$INSTALLDIR" ]; then
+    INSTALLDIR="/opt/stack/venvs/$RUNAS"
+fi
 
 function install_upstart {
   local name=$1
-  local user=$2
-  local cmd=$3
-  shift; shift; shift
+  local install_dir=$2
+  local user=$3
+  local cmd=$4
+  shift; shift; shift; shift;
   local args=$*
 
   local env_entries=''
@@ -105,7 +114,7 @@ respawn
 # not hit the default of 10 times in 5 seconds. Make it 2 times in 5s.
 respawn limit 2 5
 
-exec start-stop-daemon --start -c $user --exec /opt/stack/venvs/$user/bin/$cmd -- $args
+exec start-stop-daemon --start -c $user --exec $install_dir/bin/$cmd -- $args
 
 post-start $POSTSTART
 EOF
@@ -113,9 +122,10 @@ EOF
 
 function install_systemd {
   local name=$1
-  local user=$2
-  local cmd=$3
-  shift; shift; shift
+  local install_dir=$2
+  local user=$3
+  local cmd=$4
+  shift; shift; shift; shift;
   local args=$*
 
   local env_entries=''
@@ -132,7 +142,7 @@ After=os-refresh-config.service
 Requires=$name-create-dir.service
 
 [Service]
-ExecStart=/opt/stack/venvs/$user/bin/$cmd $args
+ExecStart=$install_dir/bin/$cmd $args
 User=$user
 $env_entries
 
@@ -164,13 +174,13 @@ EOF
 # TODO: SysV init fallback support
 DIB_INIT_SYSTEM=$(dib-init-system)
 if [ "$DIB_INIT_SYSTEM" == "upstart" ]; then
-  install_upstart $SERVICENAME $RUNAS $RUNCMD $*
+  install_upstart $SERVICENAME $INSTALLDIR $RUNAS $RUNCMD $*
 elif [ "$DIB_INIT_SYSTEM" == "systemd" ]; then
   if [ "$POSTSTART" != "$DEFAULT_POSTSTART" ] ; then
       echo "WARNING: post start is ignored with systemd." >&2
   fi
   if [ -z "$CREATE_DIR_ONLY" ]; then
-    install_systemd $SERVICENAME $RUNAS $RUNCMD $*
+    install_systemd $SERVICENAME $INSTALLDIR $RUNAS $RUNCMD $*
   fi
   install_create_dir_systemd $SERVICENAME $RUNAS
 fi
diff --git a/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-install b/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-install
index a0226cb14..5a5e24258 100755
--- a/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-install
+++ b/elements/os-svc-install/bin/os-svc-install
@@ -1,21 +1,20 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -eux
 
-function python-install() {
-  local name=$1
-  local svc_root=$2
+function python_install() {
+  local svc_root=$1
+  local install_dir=$2
+  local system_site_packages=${3:-"False"}
 
-  pushd /opt/stack/venvs
   SITE_PCKGS="--no-site-packages"
-  # Nova depends on python-libvirt which can't be installed via pip
-  if [ $name == "nova" ]; then
+  if [ $system_site_packages == "True" ]; then
     SITE_PCKGS="--system-site-packages"
   fi
-  virtualenv $SITE_PCKGS $name
-  popd
+  mkdir -p $(dirname $install_dir)
+  virtualenv $SITE_PCKGS $install_dir
 
   set +u
-  source /opt/stack/venvs/$name/bin/activate
+  source $install_dir/bin/activate
   set -u
 
   if [ -e $svc_root/requirements.txt ]; then
@@ -46,10 +45,12 @@ function python-install() {
 }
 
 
-function install-os-service() {
+function install_os_service() {
   local user=$1
   local repo=$(echo $2 | sed 's/github.com/review.openstack.org/')
   local branch=$3
+  local directory=$4
+  local system_site_packages=$5
 
   id $user || useradd $user --system -d /var/run/$user -s /bin/false
 
@@ -63,10 +64,10 @@ function install-os-service() {
   # this would be the case when the source was retrieved by
   # the source-repositories element
   if [ "${repo:0:1}" = "/" ] ; then
-    python-install $user $repo
+    python_install $repo $directory $system_site_packages
   elif [ ! -e $svc_root ]; then
     git clone --depth=1 -b $branch $repo $svc_root
-    python-install $user $svc_root
+    python_install $svc_root $directory $system_site_packages
   else
     if ! git $git_dir remote -v | grep $repo; then
       echo "ERROR: $svc_root exists and did not come from $repo"
@@ -88,17 +89,24 @@ function usage() {
   echo "  -h   show usage and exit"
   echo "  -r   service's git repo url"
   echo "  -b   repo branch or ref (default 'master')"
+  echo "  -i   Optional: installation directory for the virtualenv."
+  echo "       If not specified defaults to /opt/stack/venv/<service_name>."
   echo "  -u   name of the service run-as user"
+  echo "  -s   enable --system-site-packages in the virtualenv."
 }
 
 user=
 repo=
-while getopts hr:u:b: opt; do
+install_dir=
+system_site_packages="False"
+while getopts hsr:u:b:i: opt; do
   case "$opt" in
     u)  user=$OPTARG;;
+    i)  install_dir=$OPTARG;;
     h)  usage; exit 0;;
     r)  repo=$OPTARG;;
     b)  branch=$OPTARG;;
+    s)  system_site_packages="True";;
     \?) usage; exit 1;;
     :) usage; exit 1;;
   esac
@@ -111,5 +119,9 @@ if [[ -z "$user" || -z "$repo" ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+if [[ -z "$install_dir" ]]; then
+    install_dir="/opt/stack/venvs/$user"
+fi
+
 install-packages python-dev git-core gcc libc6-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev libz-dev
-install-os-service "$user" "$repo" "$branch"
+install_os_service "$user" "$repo" "$branch" "$install_dir" "$system_site_packages"