diff --git a/detectron/core/config.py b/detectron/core/config.py
index 3ca943a68..7a12e652b 100644
--- a/detectron/core/config.py
+++ b/detectron/core/config.py
@@ -441,6 +441,11 @@
 # (e.g., 'generalized_rcnn', 'mask_rcnn', ...)
 __C.MODEL.TYPE = ''
 
+# Detection model helper class to use
+#
+# Allows to apply custom DetectionModelHelper implementation
+__C.MODEL.MODEL_HELPER_CLASS = 'detectron.modeling.detector.DetectionModelHelper'
+
 # The backbone conv body to use
 # The string must match a function that is imported in modeling.model_builder
 # (e.g., 'FPN.add_fpn_ResNet101_conv5_body' to specify a ResNet-101-FPN
diff --git a/detectron/modeling/model_builder.py b/detectron/modeling/model_builder.py
index 25ab21770..b3f181123 100644
--- a/detectron/modeling/model_builder.py
+++ b/detectron/modeling/model_builder.py
@@ -113,7 +113,16 @@ def create(model_type_func, train=False, gpu_id=0):
     targeted to a specific GPU by specifying gpu_id. This is used by
     optimizer.build_data_parallel_model() during test time.
     """
-    model = DetectionModelHelper(
+    parts = cfg.MODEL.MODEL_HELPER_CLASS.split('.')
+    try:
+        module_name = '.'.join(parts[:-1])
+        module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
+        model_helper_class = getattr(module, parts[-1])
+    except (IndexError, ImportError, AttributeError):
+        logger.error('Failed to find model helper: %s', model_helper_class)
+        raise
+
+    model = model_helper_class(
         name=model_type_func,
         train=train,
         num_classes=cfg.MODEL.NUM_CLASSES,
@@ -145,7 +154,13 @@ def get_func(func_name):
             return globals()[parts[0]]
         # Otherwise, assume we're referencing a module under modeling
         module_name = 'detectron.modeling.' + '.'.join(parts[:-1])
-        module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
+        try:
+            module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
+        except ImportError:
+            # Finally check if we're referencing a module from the environment
+            module_name = '.'.join(parts[:-1])
+            module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
+            logger.debug('Using function %s from the environment', func_name)
         return getattr(module, parts[-1])
     except Exception:
         logger.error('Failed to find function: {}'.format(func_name))