diff --git a/nix/tools/loadtest.nix b/nix/tools/loadtest.nix
index 0f097a113b7..742e8525c11 100644
--- a/nix/tools/loadtest.nix
+++ b/nix/tools/loadtest.nix
@@ -60,9 +60,8 @@ let
         # shellcheck disable=SC2145
         ${withTools.withPg} --fixtures "$_arg_testdir"/fixtures.sql \
         ${withTools.withPgrst} \
-        sh -c "cd \"$_arg_testdir\" && ${runner} -targets targets.http \"''${_arg_leftovers[@]}\"" \
-          | tee "$_arg_output" \
-          | ${vegeta}/bin/vegeta report -type=text
+        sh -c "cd \"$_arg_testdir\" && ${runner} -targets targets.http -output \"$_arg_output\" \"''${_arg_leftovers[@]}\""
+        ${vegeta}/bin/vegeta report -type=text "$_arg_output"
       '';
 
   loadtestAgainst =
diff --git a/nix/tools/withTools.nix b/nix/tools/withTools.nix
index 816c7105a7f..33c38681dea 100644
--- a/nix/tools/withTools.nix
+++ b/nix/tools/withTools.nix
@@ -244,7 +244,16 @@ let
       ''
         export PGRST_SERVER_UNIX_SOCKET="$tmpdir"/postgrest.socket
 
-        ${cabal-install}/bin/cabal v2-build ${devCabalOptions} > "$tmpdir"/build.log 2>&1
+        echo -n "Building postgrest... "
+        ${cabal-install}/bin/cabal v2-build ${devCabalOptions} > "$tmpdir"/build.log 2>&1 \
+          || {
+          echo "failed, output:"
+          cat "$tmpdir"/build.log
+          exit 1
+        }
+        echo "done."
+
+        echo -n "Starting postgrest... "
         ${cabal-install}/bin/cabal v2-run ${devCabalOptions} --verbose=0 -- \
           postgrest ${legacyConfig} > "$tmpdir"/run.log 2>&1 &
 
@@ -256,7 +265,12 @@ let
         }
         trap cleanup EXIT
 
-        timeout -s TERM 5 ${waitForPgrstReady}
+        timeout -s TERM 5 ${waitForPgrstReady} || {
+          echo "timed out, output:"
+          cat "$tmpdir"/run.log
+          exit 1
+        }
+        echo "done."
 
         ("$_arg_command" "''${_arg_leftovers[@]}")
       '';