diff --git a/include/cppkafka/kafka_handle_base.h b/include/cppkafka/kafka_handle_base.h
index cf981e2..148071f 100644
--- a/include/cppkafka/kafka_handle_base.h
+++ b/include/cppkafka/kafka_handle_base.h
@@ -217,11 +217,11 @@ private:
     std::vector<GroupInformation> fetch_consumer_groups(const char* name);
     void save_topic_config(const std::string& topic_name, TopicConfiguration config);
 
-    HandlePtr handle_;
     std::chrono::milliseconds timeout_ms_;
     Configuration config_;
     TopicConfigurationMap topic_configurations_;
     std::mutex topic_configurations_mutex_;
+    HandlePtr handle_;
 };
 
 } // cppkafka
diff --git a/src/kafka_handle_base.cpp b/src/kafka_handle_base.cpp
index 1744e6d..aab810b 100644
--- a/src/kafka_handle_base.cpp
+++ b/src/kafka_handle_base.cpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ namespace cppkafka {
 const milliseconds KafkaHandleBase::DEFAULT_TIMEOUT{1000};
 
 KafkaHandleBase::KafkaHandleBase(Configuration config) 
-: handle_(nullptr, nullptr), timeout_ms_(DEFAULT_TIMEOUT), config_(move(config)) {
+: timeout_ms_(DEFAULT_TIMEOUT), config_(move(config)), handle_(nullptr, nullptr) {
     auto& maybe_config = config_.get_default_topic_configuration();
     if (maybe_config) {
         maybe_config->set_as_opaque();