diff --git a/src/main/nim/strawbosspkg/core.nim b/src/main/nim/strawbosspkg/core.nim
index a5ab14d..b3fe890 100644
--- a/src/main/nim/strawbosspkg/core.nim
+++ b/src/main/nim/strawbosspkg/core.nim
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@ proc setupProject(wksp: Workspace) =
     raiseEx "Version command (" & wksp.project.versionCmd &
             ") returned non-zero exit code."
 
-  wksp.outputHandler.sendMsg "Building version " & versionResult.output.strip
   wksp.version = versionResult.output.strip
   wksp.env["VERSION"] = wksp.version
 
@@ -197,10 +196,12 @@ proc runStep*(cfg: StrawBossConfig, req: RunRequest,
       version: nil)
 
   except:
+    when not defined(release): echo getCurrentException().getStackTrace()
     result = BuildStatus(state: "failed",
                          details: getCurrentExceptionMsg())
     try: discard emitStatus(result, nil, outputHandler)
     except: discard ""
+    return
 
   try:
     # Clone the repo and setup the working environment
@@ -208,6 +209,10 @@ proc runStep*(cfg: StrawBossConfig, req: RunRequest,
       "cloning project repo and preparing to run '" & req.stepName & "'")
     wksp.setupProject()
 
+    # Make sure our project directory exists in the artifacts repo
+    if not existsDir(wksp.artifactsRepo & "/" & wksp.project.name):
+      createDir(wksp.artifactsRepo & "/" & wksp.project.name)
+
     # Update our cache of project configurations by copying the configuration
     # file to our artifacts directory.
     copyFile(
@@ -261,6 +266,7 @@ proc runStep*(cfg: StrawBossConfig, req: RunRequest,
     result = wksp.status
 
   except:
+    when not defined(release): echo getCurrentException().getStackTrace()
     let msg = getCurrentExceptionMsg()
     try:
       wksp.publishStatus("failed", msg)