diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b9651a9..5a0c5b0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 coverage
 node_modules
 *.log
+tmp
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 796a15e..45ae730 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,23 @@ plugins:
 
 That's it! You can now type `serverless dotenv` in your terminal to generate the `.env` file based on your serverless configuration. Alternative you can just start `serverless offline` to generate it.
 
+### Setting a custom path
+
+If you want to customize the output location of the `.env` file, you can set a custom `path` option.
+
+Via the CLI:
+```sh
+serverless dotenv --path /some/custom/path
+```
+
+Or via the `serverless.yaml` file:
+```yaml
+service: some-service
+custom:
+  dotenv:
+    path: some/custom/path
+```
+
 ## Contribution
 
 Feel free to contribute to this project! Our JavaScript is written based on [standardJS](https://standardjs.com). We recommend to use a `standardJS` [plugin](https://standardjs.com/index.html#are-there-text-editor-plugins) for your Editor, but you can also lint your code with `yarn run lint` - respectively `npm run lint`. Please don't forget to add unit and/or integration tests. Thanks <3
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 09f889a..2f15d9a 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -12,19 +12,31 @@ class ServerlessDotenvPlugin {
   constructor (serverless, options) {
     this.serverless = serverless
     this.options = options
+    this.custom = this.serverless.service.custom || {};
+    this.custom.dotenv = this.custom.dotenv || {};
 
     this.commands = {
       dotenv: {
         usage: 'Create .env file with serverless environment variables',
         lifecycleEvents: [
           'dotenvHandler'
-        ]
+        ],
+        options: {
+          path: {
+            usage: 'Specify an output path for the .env file. Defaults to .serverless/',
+            shortcut: 'p',
+            required: false
+          }
+        }
       }
     }
 
     this.hooks = {
       'before:offline:start:init': this.initOfflineHook.bind(this),
       'before:offline:start': this.initOfflineHook.bind(this),
+      'before:invoke:local:invoke': this.dotenvHandler.bind(this),
+      'before:package:function:package': this.dotenvHandler.bind(this),
+      'before:package:createDeploymentArtifacts': this.dotenvHandler.bind(this),
       'dotenv:dotenvHandler': this.dotenvHandler.bind(this)
     }
 
@@ -55,8 +67,10 @@ class ServerlessDotenvPlugin {
     }
 
     // write .env file
-    const dotEnvPath = path.join(this.serverless.config.servicePath, '.serverless')
-    const dotEnvFile = path.join(this.serverless.config.servicePath, '.serverless/.env')
+    const dotEnvPath = this.options.path || this.custom.dotenv.path ||
+        path.join(this.serverless.config.servicePath, '.serverless')
+
+    const dotEnvFile = path.join(dotEnvPath, '.env')
     const dotEnvDocument = transformEnvVarsToString(this.environmentVariables)
 
     mkdirp.sync(dotEnvPath)
diff --git a/test/index.spec.js b/test/index.spec.js
index d8f4e95..440adbf 100644
--- a/test/index.spec.js
+++ b/test/index.spec.js
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ describe('serverless dotenv plugin', () => {
     expectedEnvVars += 'TEST1_ENV_VAR=value123\r\n'
     expectedEnvVars += 'TEST2_ENV_VAR=value123\r\n'
 
-    pluginInstance = new ServerlessDotenvPlugin(serverless)
+    pluginInstance = new ServerlessDotenvPlugin(serverless, {})
   })
 
   describe('starting plugin', () => {
@@ -66,6 +66,26 @@ describe('serverless dotenv plugin', () => {
       expect(dotEnvDocument.toString('ascii')).toEqual(expectedEnvVars)
     })
 
+    it('should write .env file to a custom location', () => {
+      pluginInstance.options.path = 'tmp/custom/path'
+      pluginInstance.dotenvHandler()
+
+      const dotEnvFile = path.join('tmp/custom/path', '.env')
+      const dotEnvDocument = fs.readFileSync(dotEnvFile)
+
+      expect(dotEnvDocument.toString('ascii')).toEqual(expectedEnvVars)
+    })
+
+    it('should write .env file to a custom location set in serverless.yaml custom config', () => {
+      serverless.service.custom = {dotenv: 'tmp/custom/path'}
+      pluginInstance.dotenvHandler()
+
+      const dotEnvFile = path.join('tmp/custom/path', '.env')
+      const dotEnvDocument = fs.readFileSync(dotEnvFile)
+
+      expect(dotEnvDocument.toString('ascii')).toEqual(expectedEnvVars)
+    })
+
     it('should append offline variables when hooked', () => {
       serverless.pluginManager = {
         run: () => pluginInstance.dotenvHandler()