diff --git a/tasks/config/project/config.js b/tasks/config/project/config.js
index bd7b30eb6..d8b90ead2 100644
--- a/tasks/config/project/config.js
+++ b/tasks/config/project/config.js
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 *******************************/
 
 var
-  defaults = require('../defaults'),
+  extend   = require('node.extend'),
   fs       = require('fs'),
-  path     = require('path')
+  path     = require('path'),
+
+  defaults = require('../defaults')
 ;
 
 
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ module.exports = {
   // adds additional derived values to a config object
   addDerivedValues: function(config) {
 
-    config = config || defaults;
+    config = config || extend(false, {}, defaults);
 
     /*--------------
        File Paths
diff --git a/tasks/config/user.js b/tasks/config/user.js
index 433fd4ac4..32864a4de 100644
--- a/tasks/config/user.js
+++ b/tasks/config/user.js
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ catch(error) {
 if(!userConfig) {
   // No semantic.json file use tasks/config/defaults.js
   console.error('Using default values for gulp');
-  //userConfig = defaults;
+  userConfig = extend(false, {}, defaults);
 }
 else {
   // extend defaults using shallow copy