diff --git a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseHPCCWsClient.java b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseHPCCWsClient.java
index 0dfe94b5e..2ee1461a9 100644
--- a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseHPCCWsClient.java
+++ b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseHPCCWsClient.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.hpccsystems.ws.client;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
@@ -159,24 +160,44 @@ private String getTargetHPCCBuildVersionString() throws Exception
         if (wsconn == null)
             throw new Exception("Cannot get target HPCC build version, client connection has not been initialized.");
 
-        String response = wsconn.sendGetRequest("WsSMC/Activity?rawxml_");//throws
+        String response = wsconn.sendGetRequest("WsSMC/Activity?rawxml_");//throws IOException if http != ok
 
         if (response == null || response.isEmpty())
             throw new Exception("Cannot get target HPCC build version, received empty " + wsconn.getBaseUrl() + " wssmc/activity response");
 
+        String header = response.substring(0, 100).trim(); //crude, but can prevent wasteful overhead
+        if (header.startsWith("<html"))
+            throw new Exception("Received invalid HTML response, expected XML HPCC build version: \"" + header + "\"...");
+
         setUpBuildVersionParser();
 
+        String versionString = null;
         Document document = null;
-        synchronized(m_XMLParser)
+        try
         {
-            document = m_XMLParser.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(response.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
+            synchronized(m_XMLParser)
+            {
+                document = m_XMLParser.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(response.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            throw new Exception("Could not parse XML HPCC Version response: \"" + response.substring(0, 100) + "\"...", e);
         }
 
         if (document == null)
-            throw new Exception("Cannot parse HPCC build version response.");
+            throw new Exception("Could not parse XML HPCC Version response: \"" + response.substring(0, 100) + "\"...");
 
-        return (String) m_buildVersionXpathExpression.evaluate(document,XPathConstants.STRING);
+        try
+        {
+            versionString = (String) m_buildVersionXpathExpression.evaluate(document,XPathConstants.STRING);
+        }
+        catch (XPathExpressionException e)
+        {
+            throw new Exception("Could not extract build version from HPCC Build/Version response: \"" + response + "\"");
+        }
 
+        return versionString;
     }
 
     public SpanBuilder getWsClientSpanBuilder(String spanName)
diff --git a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/HPCCFileSprayClient.java b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/HPCCFileSprayClient.java
index a7283a6cd..f59fe29fc 100644
--- a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/HPCCFileSprayClient.java
+++ b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/HPCCFileSprayClient.java
@@ -1005,7 +1005,7 @@ public ProgressResponseWrapper sprayVariable(DelimitedDataOptions options, DropZ
 
         SprayVariable request = new SprayVariable();
         request.setSourceIP(targetDropZone.getNetAddress());
-        request.setSourcePath(Utils.ensureTrailingPathSlash(targetDropZone.getPath()) + sourceFileName);
+        request.setSourcePath(Utils.appendPathSections(targetDropZone.getPath(), sourceFileName));
         request.setDestGroup(destGroup);
         request.setDestLogicalName(targetFileName);
         request.setOverwrite(overwrite);
@@ -1161,7 +1161,7 @@ public ProgressResponseWrapper sprayXML(DropZoneWrapper targetDropZone, String s
 
         request.setDestGroup(destGroup);
         request.setSourceIP(targetDropZone.getNetAddress());
-        request.setSourcePath(Utils.ensureTrailingPathSlash(targetDropZone.getPath()) + sourceFileName);
+        request.setSourcePath(Utils.appendPathSections(targetDropZone.getPath(), sourceFileName));
         request.setDestLogicalName(targetFileName);
         request.setOverwrite(overwrite);
         request.setSourceFormat(format.getValue());
@@ -1317,7 +1317,7 @@ public ProgressResponseWrapper sprayFixed(DropZoneWrapper targetDropZone, String
         request.setDestGroup(destGroup);
         request.setSourceRecordSize(recordSize);
         request.setSourceIP(targetDropZone.getNetAddress());
-        request.setSourcePath(Utils.ensureTrailingPathSlash(targetDropZone.getPath()) + sourceFileName);
+        request.setSourcePath(Utils.appendPathSections(targetDropZone.getPath(), sourceFileName));
         request.setDestLogicalName(targetFileLabel);
         request.setOverwrite(overwrite);
         request.setPrefix(prefix);
diff --git a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/Utils.java b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/Utils.java
index 16a4676d5..9db3f3145 100644
--- a/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/Utils.java
+++ b/wsclient/src/main/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/Utils.java
@@ -1114,6 +1114,107 @@ public static String ensureTrailingPathSlash(String path, char slash)
         return path;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Constructs new path based on provided pre and post path sections
+     * Ensures resulting path is properly delimited at the point of concatenation
+     * Uses Linux path style path separator
+     *
+     * @param prefixPath - the prefix path
+     * @param postfixPath - the postfix path
+     * @return - new path comprised of path prefix a linux style path separator and path postfix
+     */
+    public static String appendLinuxPathSections(String prefixPath, String postfixPath)
+    {
+        return appendPathSections(prefixPath, LINUX_SEP, postfixPath);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs new path based on provided pre and post path sections
+     * Ensures resulting path is properly delimited at the point of concatenation
+     * Uses Windows path style path separator
+     *
+     * @param prefixPath - the prefix path
+     * @param postfixPath - the postfix path
+     * @return - new path comprised of path prefix a windows style path separator and path postfix
+     */
+    public static String appendWindowsPathSections(String prefixPath, String postfixPath)
+    {
+        return appendPathSections(prefixPath, WIN_SEP, postfixPath);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs new path based on provided pre and post path sections
+     * Ensures resulting path is properly delimited at the point of concatenation
+     * Infers proper path separator on presence of Linux or Windows style path separator in prefix path
+     *
+     * @param prefixPath - the prefix path
+     * @param postfixPath - the postfix path
+     * @return - new path comprised of path prefix a path separator and path postfix
+     * @throws Exception - Invalid paths, indiscernible path style
+     */
+    public static String appendPathSections(String prefixPath, String postfixPath) throws Exception
+    {
+        if (prefixPath == null)
+            prefixPath = "";
+
+        if (postfixPath == null)
+            postfixPath = "";
+
+        if (prefixPath.length() == 0 && postfixPath.length() == 0)
+            return "";
+
+        try
+        {
+            char pathSep = inferPathSeperatorType(prefixPath.length() != 0 ? prefixPath : postfixPath);
+            return appendPathSections(prefixPath, pathSep, postfixPath);
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            throw new Exception("Could not append path sections, ensure original path sections are valid and contain path seperator");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs new path based on provided pre and post path sections
+     * Ensures resulting path is properly delimited at the point of concatenation
+     * Uses provided char as delimiter between pre and post path sections
+     *
+     * @param prefixPath - the prefix path
+     * @param slash - separator to use when appending path sections
+     * @param postfixPath - the postfix path
+     * @return - new path comprised of path prefix a path separator and path postfix
+     */
+    public static String appendPathSections(String prefixPath, char slash, String postfixPath)
+    {
+        prefixPath = trimTrailing(prefixPath);
+
+        if (prefixPath.length() == 0 || prefixPath.charAt(prefixPath.length()-1) != slash)
+            prefixPath = prefixPath + slash;
+
+        postfixPath = postfixPath.trim();
+
+        if (postfixPath.length() > 0 && postfixPath.charAt(0) == slash)
+            prefixPath = prefixPath + postfixPath.substring(1);
+        else
+            prefixPath = prefixPath + postfixPath;
+
+        return prefixPath;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Infers path style (linux/windows) based on presence of Linux separator
+     * @param path - the path
+     * @return - new path comprised of path prefix a path separator and path postfix
+     * @throws Exception - Invalid paths, indiscernible path style
+     */
+    public static char inferPathSeperatorType(String path) throws Exception
+    {
+        if (path.length() == 0)
+            throw new Exception("Zero len path detected!");
+
+        return path.contains(Character.toString(LINUX_SEP)) ? LINUX_SEP : WIN_SEP;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Removes trailing whitespace characters from a string.
      *
diff --git a/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/UtilsTest.java b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/UtilsTest.java
index eef268e47..99876b48a 100644
--- a/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/UtilsTest.java
+++ b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/utils/UtilsTest.java
@@ -8,6 +8,35 @@
 
 public class UtilsTest
 {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testappendPathSections() throws Exception
+    {
+        //appendWindowsPathSections
+        assertEquals(Character.toString(Utils.WIN_SEP), Utils.appendWindowsPathSections("", ""));
+        assertEquals("C:\\some\\path\\", Utils.appendWindowsPathSections("C:\\some\\ ", "  \\path\\"));
+        assertEquals("C:\\some\\path\\", Utils.appendWindowsPathSections("C:\\some", " path\\"));
+
+        //appendLinuxPathSections
+        assertEquals(Character.toString(Utils.LINUX_SEP), Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("", ""));
+        assertEquals("/root/path/relative/path", Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("/root/path ", "  relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/root/path/relative/path", Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("/root/path/  ", " /relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("/  ", "/relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("/  ", "/relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendLinuxPathSections("/", " /relative/path"));
+
+        //appendPathSections
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/", " /relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/root/path/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/root/path ", "  relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/root/path/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/root/path/  ", " /relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/  ", "/relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/  ", "/relative/path"));
+        assertEquals("/relative/path", Utils.appendPathSections("/", " /relative/path"));
+
+        assertEquals("C:\\some\\path\\", Utils.appendPathSections("C:\\some\\ ", "  \\path\\"));
+        assertEquals("C:\\some\\path", Utils.appendPathSections("C:\\some", " path"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testEnsureTrailingSlashTrailingWhiteSpace()
     {