diff --git a/pykat/testing/test.py b/pykat/testing/test.py
index 7dc09c78e8fb06e2dd31302bd457caa42463580b..3864445f0bbffb1f16fe28a3289faf72bb21c5ef 100644
--- a/pykat/testing/test.py
+++ b/pykat/testing/test.py
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ class FinesseTestProcess(Thread):
         self.BASE_DIR = BASE_DIR
         
         if os.path.exists(self.BASE_DIR):
+            print "Deleting previous base_dir " + BASE_DIR
             shutil.rmtree(self.BASE_DIR)
+        
+        os.mkdir(self.BASE_DIR)
 
         self.emails = ""
         
@@ -92,9 +95,6 @@ class FinesseTestProcess(Thread):
         else:
             raise Exception("nobuild is not a boolean value")
             
-        if not os.path.isdir(self.BASE_DIR):
-            raise Exception("BASE_DIR was not a valid directory")
-        
         if not os.path.isdir(self.TEST_DIR):
             raise Exception("TEST_DIR was not a valid directory, should point to a clone of the FINESSE test repository")
             
diff --git a/pykat/testing/web/web_interface.py b/pykat/testing/web/web_interface.py
index bb48e8f573624c53ebe02444c8a9a31b8beb1749..3869db1db41394198a424c79488ddaece9bf3d56 100644
--- a/pykat/testing/web/web_interface.py
+++ b/pykat/testing/web/web_interface.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ else:
 SRC_GIT_PATH = os.path.join(app.instance_path, "finesse_src",".git")
 
 # get HEAD commit to set as starting point for commit checker
-latest_data = utils.git(['--git-dir',SRC_GIT_PATH,"log","-2",'--pretty=format:"%H"'])
+latest_data = utils.git(["log","-2",'--pretty=format:"%H"'],cwd=SRC_GIT_PATH)
 
 latest_commit_id_tested = latest_data[0].split("\n")[1].replace('"',"").replace("\\","")
 
@@ -687,12 +687,14 @@ def setInterval(interval):
     
 @setInterval(commit_check_seconds)
 def checkLatestCommits():
-    utils.git(["pull"], cwd=SRC_GIT_PATH)
+    SRC_PATH = os.path.join(app.instance_path,"finesse_src")
+    
+    utils.git(["pull"], cwd=SRC_PATH)
     
     global latest_commit_id_tested
-    out = utils.git(["log", re.sub(r"[\W]",'',latest_commit_id_tested) + "..HEAD",'--pretty=format:"%H"'], cwd=SRC_GIT_PATH)
+        
+    out = utils.git(["log", re.sub(r"[\W]",'',latest_commit_id_tested) + "..HEAD",'--pretty=format:"%H"'], cwd=SRC_PATH)
     
-    print "Checking latest commits..."
     commits_not_tested = []
     
     try: