diff --git a/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js b/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
index 3f9990c6b..b59673381 100644
--- a/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
+++ b/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
@@ -117,9 +117,17 @@ class DeployManager {
           return callback(new Error("error running afterDeploy"));
         }
 
+        // TODO: convert to for to avoid repeated callback
         onDeployCode.forEach((cmd) => {
           self.logger.info("executing: " + cmd);
-          RunCode.doEval(cmd, web3);
+          try {
+            RunCode.doEval(cmd, web3);
+          } catch(e) {
+            if (e.message.indexOf("invalid opcode") >= 0) {
+              self.logger.error('the transaction was rejected; this usually happens due to a throw or a require, it can also happen due to an invalid operation');
+            }
+            return callback(new Error(e));
+          }
         });
 
         callback(null, contractsManager);
diff --git a/lib/modules/solidity/index.js b/lib/modules/solidity/index.js
index 2087268bd..0270214ae 100644
--- a/lib/modules/solidity/index.js
+++ b/lib/modules/solidity/index.js
@@ -51,8 +51,11 @@ class Solidity {
         self.logger.info("compiling contracts...");
         solcW.compile({sources: input}, 1, function (output) {
           if (output.errors) {
-            for (let i=0; i<output.errors; i++) {
+            for (let i=0; i<output.errors.length; i++) {
               if (output.errors[i].indexOf('Warning:') >= 0) {
+                //return callback(new Error("Solidity errors: " + output.errors).message);
+              }
+              if (output.errors[i].indexOf('Error:') >= 0) {
                 return callback(new Error("Solidity errors: " + output.errors).message);
               }
             }
@@ -64,6 +67,10 @@ class Solidity {
       function createCompiledObject(output, callback) {
         let json = output.contracts;
 
+        if (Object.keys(output.contracts).length === 0 && output.sourceList.length > 0) {
+          return callback(new Error("error compiling. There are sources available but no code could be compiled, likely due to fatal errors in the solidity code").message);
+        }
+
         let compiled_object = {};
 
         for (let contractName in json) {