diff --git a/lib/gitlab/import_export.rb b/lib/gitlab/import_export.rb
index 9c7c72e2b4a..65a8fcfadd0 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/import_export.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/import_export.rb
@@ -23,5 +23,9 @@ module Gitlab
     def version_filename
       'VERSION'
     end
+
+    def version
+      VERSION
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/import_export/project_tree_saver.rb b/lib/gitlab/import_export/project_tree_saver.rb
index 287fe34190f..ce69dd4971e 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/import_export/project_tree_saver.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/import_export/project_tree_saver.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ module Gitlab
       end
 
       def save
-        FileUtils.mkdir_p(@shared.export_path)
         File.write(full_path, project_json_tree)
         true
       rescue => e
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/import_export/version_saver.rb b/lib/gitlab/import_export/version_saver.rb
index 197271f3555..59e317e6573 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/import_export/version_saver.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/import_export/version_saver.rb
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ module Gitlab
       end
 
       def save
+        FileUtils.mkdir_p(@shared.export_path)
+
         File.open(version_file, 'w') do |file|
-          file.write(Gitlab::ImportExport.VERSION)
+          file.write(Gitlab::ImportExport.version)
         end
       rescue => e
         @shared.error(e)