diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index d49a6e7..738f30c 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -896,8 +896,8 @@
 			// the user provided a version manually
 			dep = Dependency(packageParts.version_);
 		} else {
-			const pack = dub.packageManager.getFirstPackage(packageParts.name);
-			if (pack)
+			if (packageParts.name.startsWith(":") ||
+				dub.packageManager.getFirstPackage(packageParts.name))
 				// found locally
 				return 0;
 
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg.sh b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ea70068
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+. $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/common.sh
+$DUB build --root="$CURR_DIR/issue1691-build-subpkg" :subpkg
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.gitignore b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ba3960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+.dub
+docs.json
+__dummy.html
+docs/
+/issue1691-build-subpkg
+issue1691-build-subpkg.so
+issue1691-build-subpkg.dylib
+issue1691-build-subpkg.dll
+issue1691-build-subpkg.a
+issue1691-build-subpkg.lib
+issue1691-build-subpkg-test-*
+*.exe
+*.o
+*.obj
+*.lst
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.no_build b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.no_build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/.no_build
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/dub.sdl b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/dub.sdl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7ab799
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/dub.sdl
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+name "issue1691-build-subpkg"
+dependency ":subpkg" version="*"
+subPackage "./subpkg/"
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/source/app.d b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/source/app.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/source/app.d
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/dub.sdl b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/dub.sdl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25c3c2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/dub.sdl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+name "subpkg"
diff --git a/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/source/subpkg.d b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/source/subpkg.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1691-build-subpkg/subpkg/source/subpkg.d