diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d81ed52b9..b17f5291c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -641,6 +641,7 @@ checksum = "245097e9a4535ee1e3e3931fcfcd55a796a44c643e8596ff6566d68f09b87bbc"
 name = "contract-metadata"
 version = "2.0.0-alpha.4"
 dependencies = [
+ "anyhow",
  "impl-serde 0.4.0",
  "pretty_assertions",
  "semver",
diff --git a/crates/cargo-contract/src/cmd/extrinsics/upload.rs b/crates/cargo-contract/src/cmd/extrinsics/upload.rs
index 6dcccf455..7087c9cbd 100644
--- a/crates/cargo-contract/src/cmd/extrinsics/upload.rs
+++ b/crates/cargo-contract/src/cmd/extrinsics/upload.rs
@@ -71,7 +71,14 @@ impl UploadCommand {
         let crate_metadata = CrateMetadata::from_manifest_path(
             self.extrinsic_opts.manifest_path.as_ref(),
         )?;
-        let transcoder = ContractMessageTranscoder::load(crate_metadata.metadata_path())?;
+        let contract_metadata =
+            contract_metadata::ContractMetadata::load(&crate_metadata.metadata_path())?;
+        let code_hash = contract_metadata.source.hash;
+        let transcoder =
+            ContractMessageTranscoder::try_from(contract_metadata).context(format!(
+                "Failed to deserialize ink project metadata from contract metadata {}",
+                crate_metadata.metadata_path().display()
+            ))?;
         let signer = super::pair_signer(self.extrinsic_opts.signer()?);
 
         let wasm_path = match &self.wasm_path {
@@ -126,7 +133,11 @@ impl UploadCommand {
                 }
                 Ok(())
             } else {
-                Err("This contract has already been uploaded".into())
+                Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+                    "This contract has already been uploaded with code hash: {:?}",
+                    code_hash
+                )
+                .into())
             }
         })
     }
diff --git a/crates/metadata/Cargo.toml b/crates/metadata/Cargo.toml
index 2942b2ec3..98f434ad3 100644
--- a/crates/metadata/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/metadata/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ semver = { version = "1.0.14", features = ["serde"] }
 serde = { version = "1.0.146", default-features = false, features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0.87"
 url = { version = "2.3.1", features = ["serde"] }
+anyhow = "1.0.66"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 pretty_assertions = "1.3.0"
diff --git a/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs b/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
index 4735dabaf..9943f0c7d 100644
--- a/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@
 
 mod byte_str;
 
+use anyhow::{
+    Context,
+    Result,
+};
 use semver::Version;
 use serde::{
     de,
@@ -75,6 +79,8 @@ use std::{
         Formatter,
         Result as DisplayResult,
     },
+    fs::File,
+    path::Path,
     str::FromStr,
 };
 use url::Url;
@@ -113,10 +119,24 @@ impl ContractMetadata {
     pub fn remove_source_wasm_attribute(&mut self) {
         self.source.wasm = None;
     }
+
+    /// Reads the file and tries to parse it as instance of `ContractMetadata`.
+    pub fn load<P>(metadata_path: &P) -> Result<Self>
+    where
+        P: AsRef<Path>,
+    {
+        let path = metadata_path.as_ref();
+        let file = File::open(path)
+            .context(format!("Failed to open metadata file {}", path.display()))?;
+        serde_json::from_reader(file).context(format!(
+            "Failed to deserialize metadata file {}",
+            path.display()
+        ))
+    }
 }
 
 /// Representation of the Wasm code hash.
-#[derive(Clone, Debug, Eq, PartialEq, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Eq, PartialEq, Deserialize, Serialize)]
 pub struct CodeHash(
     #[serde(
         serialize_with = "byte_str::serialize_as_byte_str",
diff --git a/crates/transcode/src/lib.rs b/crates/transcode/src/lib.rs
index b0b9626c2..85909504a 100644
--- a/crates/transcode/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/transcode/src/lib.rs
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ use scale_info::{
 };
 use std::{
     fmt::Debug,
-    fs::File,
     path::Path,
 };
 
@@ -166,13 +165,8 @@ impl ContractMessageTranscoder {
         P: AsRef<Path>,
     {
         let path = metadata_path.as_ref();
-        let file = File::open(path)
-            .context(format!("Failed to open metadata file {}", path.display()))?;
-        let metadata: contract_metadata::ContractMetadata = serde_json::from_reader(file)
-            .context(format!(
-                "Failed to deserialize metadata file {}",
-                path.display()
-            ))?;
+        let metadata: contract_metadata::ContractMetadata =
+            contract_metadata::ContractMetadata::load(&metadata_path)?;
         let ink_metadata = serde_json::from_value(serde_json::Value::Object(
             metadata.abi,
         ))
@@ -344,6 +338,18 @@ impl ContractMessageTranscoder {
     }
 }
 
+impl TryFrom<contract_metadata::ContractMetadata> for ContractMessageTranscoder {
+    type Error = anyhow::Error;
+
+    fn try_from(
+        metadata: contract_metadata::ContractMetadata,
+    ) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        Ok(Self::new(serde_json::from_value(
+            serde_json::Value::Object(metadata.abi),
+        )?))
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub enum CompositeTypeFields {
     Named(Vec<CompositeTypeNamedField>),