diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
index cc723704a..ac36cf983 100644
--- a/gulpfile.js
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -248,26 +248,27 @@ function zipTask(target) {
   }
 }
 
-function generateBundler(opts) {
-  var browserifyOpts = assign({}, watchify.args, {
+function generateBundler(opts, performBundle) {
+  const browserifyOpts = assign({}, watchify.args, {
     entries: ['./app/scripts/'+opts.filename],
     plugin: 'browserify-derequire',
     debug: debug,
     fullPaths: debug,
   })
 
-  return browserify(browserifyOpts)
-}
-
-function discTask(opts) {
-  let bundler = generateBundler(opts)
+  let bundler = browserify(browserifyOpts)
 
   if (opts.watch) {
     bundler = watchify(bundler)
-    // on any dep update, runs the bundler
+    // on any file update, re-runs the bundler
     bundler.on('update', performBundle)
   }
 
+  return bundler
+}
+
+function discTask(opts) {
+  const bundler = generateBundler(opts, performBundle)
   // output build logs to terminal
   bundler.on('log', gutil.log)
 
@@ -289,14 +290,7 @@ function discTask(opts) {
 
 
 function bundleTask(opts) {
-  let bundler = generateBundler(opts)
-
-  if (opts.watch) {
-    bundler = watchify(bundler)
-    // on any file update, re-runs the bundler
-    bundler.on('update', performBundle)
-  }
-
+  const bundler = generateBundler(opts, performBundle)
   // output build logs to terminal
   bundler.on('log', gutil.log)
 
@@ -306,6 +300,17 @@ function bundleTask(opts) {
     return (
 
       bundler.bundle()
+
+      // handle errors
+      .on('error', (err) => {
+        beep()
+        if (opts.watch) {
+          console.warn(err.stack)
+        } else {
+          throw err
+        }
+      })
+
       // convert bundle stream to gulp vinyl stream
       .pipe(source(opts.filename))
       // inject variables into bundle
@@ -314,7 +319,7 @@ function bundleTask(opts) {
       .pipe(buffer())
       // sourcemaps
       // loads map from browserify file
-      .pipe(gulpif(debug, sourcemaps.init({loadMaps: true})))
+      .pipe(gulpif(debug, sourcemaps.init({ loadMaps: true })))
       // writes .map file
       .pipe(gulpif(debug, sourcemaps.write('./')))
       // write completed bundles
@@ -328,3 +333,7 @@ function bundleTask(opts) {
     )
   }
 }
+
+function beep () {
+  process.stdout.write('\x07')
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 83c64cdab..d8f5c6167 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@
     "enzyme": "^2.8.2",
     "eslint-plugin-chai": "0.0.1",
     "eslint-plugin-mocha": "^4.9.0",
-    "fs-promise": "^2.0.3",
     "eth-json-rpc-middleware": "^1.2.7",
+    "fs-promise": "^2.0.3",
     "gulp": "github:gulpjs/gulp#4.0",
     "gulp-if": "^2.0.1",
     "gulp-json-editor": "^2.2.1",
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@
     "uglifyify": "^4.0.2",
     "vinyl-buffer": "^1.0.0",
     "vinyl-source-stream": "^1.1.0",
-    "watchify": "^3.7.0"
+    "watchify": "^3.9.0"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=0.8.0"