diff --git a/src/cmd/build.rs b/src/cmd/build.rs
index 0435cfe2532f97f44248ae030adc4c7f067ece76..39c628dda0c303f0afe1533a849a19f1482749cd 100644
--- a/src/cmd/build.rs
+++ b/src/cmd/build.rs
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ fn build_cargo_project(
     );
 
     let cargo_build = |manifest_path: &ManifestPath| {
-        let target_dir = &crate_metadata.cargo_meta.target_directory;
+        let target_dir = &crate_metadata.target_directory;
         util::invoke_cargo(
             "build",
             &[
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ fn execute(
             dest_wasm: maybe_dest_wasm,
             dest_metadata: None,
             dest_bundle: None,
-            target_directory: crate_metadata.cargo_meta.target_directory,
+            target_directory: crate_metadata.target_directory,
             optimization_result: maybe_optimization_result,
             build_artifact,
         };
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ mod tests {
             cmd::new::execute("new_project", Some(path)).expect("new project creation failed");
             let manifest_path =
                 ManifestPath::new(&path.join("new_project").join("Cargo.toml")).unwrap();
-            super::execute(
+            let res = super::execute(
                 &manifest_path,
                 None,
                 true,
@@ -386,6 +386,13 @@ mod tests {
                 UnstableFlags::default(),
             )
             .expect("build failed");
+
+            // we can't use `/target/ink` here, since this would match
+            // for `/target` being the root path. but since `ends_with`
+            // always matches whole path components we can be sure
+            // the path can never be e.g. `foo_target/ink` -- the assert
+            // would fail for that.
+            assert!(res.target_directory.ends_with("target/ink"));
             Ok(())
         })
     }
diff --git a/src/cmd/metadata.rs b/src/cmd/metadata.rs
index d93565adf6e3d2997ec7dd91da81c01af4f3c34b..8ca48262d2df889cac8af9bd83c7674aa5dd39c2 100644
--- a/src/cmd/metadata.rs
+++ b/src/cmd/metadata.rs
@@ -55,13 +55,11 @@ impl GenerateMetadataCommand {
     pub fn exec(&self) -> Result<BuildResult> {
         util::assert_channel()?;
 
-        let cargo_meta = &self.crate_metadata.cargo_meta;
-        let out_path_metadata = cargo_meta.target_directory.join(METADATA_FILE);
+        let target_directory = self.crate_metadata.target_directory.clone();
+        let out_path_metadata = target_directory.join(METADATA_FILE);
 
         let fname_bundle = format!("{}.contract", self.crate_metadata.package_name);
-        let out_path_bundle = cargo_meta.target_directory.join(fname_bundle);
-
-        let target_directory = cargo_meta.target_directory.clone();
+        let out_path_bundle = target_directory.join(fname_bundle);
 
         // build the extended contract project metadata
         let ExtendedMetadataResult {
@@ -120,15 +118,18 @@ impl GenerateMetadataCommand {
         if self.unstable_options.original_manifest {
             generate_metadata(&self.crate_metadata.manifest_path)?;
         } else {
-            Workspace::new(&cargo_meta, &self.crate_metadata.root_package.id)?
-                .with_root_package_manifest(|manifest| {
-                    manifest
-                        .with_added_crate_type("rlib")?
-                        .with_profile_release_lto(false)?;
-                    Ok(())
-                })?
-                .with_metadata_gen_package()?
-                .using_temp(generate_metadata)?;
+            Workspace::new(
+                &self.crate_metadata.cargo_meta,
+                &self.crate_metadata.root_package.id,
+            )?
+            .with_root_package_manifest(|manifest| {
+                manifest
+                    .with_added_crate_type("rlib")?
+                    .with_profile_release_lto(false)?;
+                Ok(())
+            })?
+            .with_metadata_gen_package()?
+            .using_temp(generate_metadata)?;
         }
 
         let dest_bundle = if self.build_artifact == BuildArtifacts::All {
diff --git a/src/crate_metadata.rs b/src/crate_metadata.rs
index 60837b73dfcf5f4a63f6b53bab025336fbf9a71e..1e57e950e14cc4815925d7dda555e7c5614e7eef 100644
--- a/src/crate_metadata.rs
+++ b/src/crate_metadata.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ pub struct CrateMetadata {
     pub documentation: Option<Url>,
     pub homepage: Option<Url>,
     pub user: Option<Map<String, Value>>,
+    pub target_directory: PathBuf,
 }
 
 impl CrateMetadata {
@@ -43,18 +44,21 @@ impl CrateMetadata {
     pub fn collect(manifest_path: &ManifestPath) -> Result<Self> {
         let (metadata, root_package) = get_cargo_metadata(manifest_path)?;
 
+        let mut target_directory = metadata.target_directory.clone();
+        target_directory.push("ink");
+
         // Normalize the package name.
         let package_name = root_package.name.replace("-", "_");
 
         // {target_dir}/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/{package_name}.wasm
-        let mut original_wasm = metadata.target_directory.clone();
+        let mut original_wasm = target_directory.clone();
         original_wasm.push("wasm32-unknown-unknown");
         original_wasm.push("release");
         original_wasm.push(package_name.clone());
         original_wasm.set_extension("wasm");
 
         // {target_dir}/{package_name}.wasm
-        let mut dest_wasm = metadata.target_directory.clone();
+        let mut dest_wasm = target_directory.clone();
         dest_wasm.push(package_name.clone());
         dest_wasm.set_extension("wasm");
 
@@ -86,6 +90,7 @@ impl CrateMetadata {
             documentation,
             homepage,
             user,
+            target_directory,
         };
         Ok(crate_metadata)
     }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 6fed88ddee63af6b147eb35e10e17137e5c547a5..6619d5802dcf3aba7f68f86de58d2b380ba629ed 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ enum Command {
     Deploy {
         #[structopt(flatten)]
         extrinsic_opts: ExtrinsicOpts,
-        /// Path to wasm contract code, defaults to `./target/<name>-pruned.wasm`
+        /// Path to wasm contract code, defaults to `./target/ink/<name>-pruned.wasm`
         #[structopt(parse(from_os_str))]
         wasm_path: Option<PathBuf>,
     },