diff --git a/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsbuildstep.cpp b/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsbuildstep.cpp
index 0f3da1fdf65..eb3b2a45f91 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsbuildstep.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsbuildstep.cpp
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ QbsBuildStep::QbsBuildStep(ProjectExplorer::BuildStepList *bsl) :
     m_job(0), m_parser(0)
 {
     setDisplayName(tr("Qbs Build"));
+    setQbsConfiguration(QVariantMap());
 }
 
 QbsBuildStep::QbsBuildStep(ProjectExplorer::BuildStepList *bsl, const QbsBuildStep *other) :