diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index f3f89e42d5..07422e757f 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -7,9 +7,14 @@ Here you can find the recent changes to tmuxp.
 master
 ------
 
+- [cli] [tests] - fix `Issue #23`_ where workspace would not build with
+  pane-base-index set to 1. Update tests to fix if ``pane-base-index`` is
+  not 0.
 - [cli] - removed ``$ tmuxp load --list`` functionality. Update
   :ref:`quickstart` accordingly.
 
+.. _Issue #23: https://github.com/tony/tmuxp/issues/23
+
 0.1-rc1
 -------
 
diff --git a/tmuxp/testsuite/test_window.py b/tmuxp/testsuite/test_window.py
index fb6b93fab7..c7f3a544c4 100644
--- a/tmuxp/testsuite/test_window.py
+++ b/tmuxp/testsuite/test_window.py
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ def test_select_window(self):
 class NewTest(TmuxTestCase):
 
     def test_zfresh_window_data(self):
-        # self.session.select_window(1)
-        #
+
+        pane_base_index = int(self.session.attached_window().show_window_option(
+            'pane-base-index', g=True
+        ))
+
         self.assertEqual(len(self.session.windows), 1)
 
         self.assertEqual(len(self.session.attached_window().panes), 1)
@@ -73,9 +76,9 @@ def test_zfresh_window_data(self):
         self.assertIsInstance(window, Window)
         self.assertEqual(len(self.session.attached_window().panes), 1)
         pane = window.split_window()
-        self.session.attached_window().select_pane(0)
+        self.session.attached_window().select_pane(pane_base_index)
         self.session.attached_pane().send_keys('cd /srv/www/flaskr')
-        self.session.attached_window().select_pane(1)
+        self.session.attached_window().select_pane(pane_base_index + 1)
         self.session.attached_pane().send_keys('source .env/bin/activate')
         self.session.new_window(window_name='second')
         current_windows += 1
diff --git a/tmuxp/testsuite/test_workspacebuilder.py b/tmuxp/testsuite/test_workspacebuilder.py
index 07e86de4c7..99b4f893b9 100644
--- a/tmuxp/testsuite/test_workspacebuilder.py
+++ b/tmuxp/testsuite/test_workspacebuilder.py
@@ -154,9 +154,9 @@ def test_split_windows(self):
             'focused window'
         )
 
-        pane_base_index = self.session.attached_window().show_window_option(
-            'pane-base-index'
-        )
+        pane_base_index = int(self.session.attached_window().show_window_option(
+            'pane-base-index', g=True
+        ))
 
         if not pane_base_index:
             pane_base_index = 0
diff --git a/tmuxp/workspacebuilder.py b/tmuxp/workspacebuilder.py
index c7c9c78212..943a72bcf1 100644
--- a/tmuxp/workspacebuilder.py
+++ b/tmuxp/workspacebuilder.py
@@ -210,18 +210,18 @@ def iter_create_panes(self, w, wconf):
         pane_base_index = int(w.show_window_option('pane-base-index', g=True))
 
         for pindex, pconf in enumerate(wconf['panes'], start=pane_base_index):
-            if pindex != int(pane_base_index):
+
+            if pindex == int(pane_base_index):
+                p = w.attached_pane()
+
+            else:
                 p = w.split_window(
                     attach=True,
                     #target=w.list_panes()[-1].get('pane_index')
                 )
-                assert(isinstance(p, Pane))
-                assert int(p.get('pane_index')) == int(pane_base_index + pindex)
-            else:
-                p = w.attached_pane()
-                assert(isinstance(p, Pane))
-                assert int(p.get('pane_index')) == int(pane_base_index)
 
+            assert(isinstance(p, Pane))
+            assert(int(p.get('pane_index')) == int(pindex))
             if 'layout' in wconf:
                 w.select_layout(wconf['layout'])