diff --git a/src/qvi-hwpool.cc b/src/qvi-hwpool.cc
index 5b09b969..c95914e0 100644
--- a/src/qvi-hwpool.cc
+++ b/src/qvi-hwpool.cc
@@ -130,13 +130,7 @@ int
 qvi_hwpool_new(
     qvi_hwpool_t **rpool
 ) {
-    qvi_hwpool_t *irpool = qvi_new qvi_hwpool_t();
-    int rc = qvi_new_rc(irpool);
-    if (rc != QV_SUCCESS) {
-        qvi_hwpool_free(&irpool);
-    }
-    *rpool = irpool;
-    return rc;
+    return qvi_new_rc(rpool);
 }
 
 int
diff --git a/src/qvi-utils.h b/src/qvi-utils.h
index 2d240f04..a9be015b 100644
--- a/src/qvi-utils.h
+++ b/src/qvi-utils.h
@@ -53,17 +53,23 @@ qvi_construct_rc(
 }
 
 /**
- * Similar to qvi_construct_rc(), but is used also to check the value returned
- * by qvi_new.
+ * Constructs a new object of a given type. *t will be valid if successful,
+ * nullptr otherwise. Returns QV_SUCCESS if successful.
  */
 template <class T>
 int
 qvi_new_rc(
-    const T *const t
+    T **t
 ) {
-    // qvi_new must have returned nullptr.
-    if (!t) return QV_ERR_OOR;
-    return t->qvim_rc;
+    T *it = qvi_new T();
+    if (!it) return QV_ERR_OOR;
+
+    const int rc = qvi_construct_rc(*it);
+    if (rc != QV_SUCCESS) {
+        qvi_delete(&it);
+    }
+    *t = it;
+    return rc;
 }
 
 #endif