diff --git a/compiler/src/steps/validate-model.ts b/compiler/src/steps/validate-model.ts
index d963c57b6a..29b1b89016 100644
--- a/compiler/src/steps/validate-model.ts
+++ b/compiler/src/steps/validate-model.ts
@@ -45,14 +45,10 @@ const privateNamespaces = ['_internal', 'profiling']
  * Any inconsistency is logged as an error.
  *
  * Missing validations:
- * - verify uniqueness of property names in the inheritance chain
  * - verify that request parents don't define properties (would they be path/request/body properties?)
  * - verify that unions can be distinguished in a JSON stream (otherwise they should be inheritance trees)
  */
 export default async function validateModel (apiModel: model.Model, restSpec: Map<string, JsonSpec>, errors: ValidationErrors): Promise<model.Model> {
-  // Fail hard if the FAIL_HARD env var is defined
-  const failHard = process.env.FAIL_HARD != null
-
   const initialTypeCount = apiModel.types.length
 
   // Returns the fully-qualified name of a type name
@@ -87,13 +83,20 @@ export default async function validateModel (apiModel: model.Model, restSpec: Ma
   function modelError (msg: string): void {
     const fullMsg = (context.length === 0) ? msg : context.join(' / ') + ' - ' + msg
 
+    let ignored = false
     if (currentEndpoint != null) {
-      errors.addEndpointError(currentEndpoint, currentPart, fullMsg)
+      ignored = errors.addEndpointError(currentEndpoint, currentPart, fullMsg)
+      if (!ignored) {
+        console.error(currentEndpoint, currentPart, fullMsg)
+      }
     } else {
       errors.addGeneralError(fullMsg)
+      console.error(fullMsg)
     }
 
-    errorCount++
+    if (!ignored) {
+      errorCount++
+    }
   }
 
   // ----- Type definition management
@@ -206,8 +209,8 @@ export default async function validateModel (apiModel: model.Model, restSpec: Ma
   const danglingTypesCount = initialTypeCount - apiModel.types.length
   console.info(`Model validation: ${typesSeen.size} types visited, ${danglingTypesCount} dangling types.`)
 
-  if (errorCount > 0 && failHard) {
-    throw new Error('Model is inconsistent. Check logs for details')
+  if (errorCount > 0) {
+    throw new Error('Model is inconsistent.')
   }
 
   return apiModel
diff --git a/compiler/src/validation-errors.ts b/compiler/src/validation-errors.ts
index 5260775f3e..a89c61a8f5 100644
--- a/compiler/src/validation-errors.ts
+++ b/compiler/src/validation-errors.ts
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ export class ValidationErrors {
   }
 
   /** Add some error information relative to an endpoint's request or response */
-  addEndpointError (endpoint: string, part: 'request' | 'response', message: string): void {
+  addEndpointError (endpoint: string, part: 'request' | 'response', message: string): boolean {
     if (IGNORED_ERRORS.includes(message)) {
-      return
+      return true
     }
 
     let error = this.endpointErrors[endpoint]
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ export class ValidationErrors {
     }
 
     error[part].push(message)
+    return false
   }
 
   /** Add a general error, unrelated to an endpoint */