diff --git a/paws.common/DESCRIPTION b/paws.common/DESCRIPTION
index 4f46e9e70..7e7c2e9d2 100644
--- a/paws.common/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/paws.common/DESCRIPTION
@@ -62,11 +62,11 @@ Collate:
     'custom_dynamodb.R'
     'custom_rds.R'
     'http_status.R'
+    'error.R'
     'tags.R'
     'xmlutil.R'
     'stream.R'
     'custom_s3.R'
-    'error.R'
     'handlers_core.R'
     'handlers_ec2query.R'
     'handlers_jsonrpc.R'
diff --git a/paws.common/R/custom_s3.R b/paws.common/R/custom_s3.R
index de06e4572..9fbe285ca 100644
--- a/paws.common/R/custom_s3.R
+++ b/paws.common/R/custom_s3.R
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #' @include service.R
 #' @include stream.R
 #' @include util.R
-#' @include http_status.R
+#' @include error.R
 NULL
 
 ################################################################################
@@ -281,13 +281,7 @@ s3_unmarshal_error <- function(request) {
     return(request)
   }
   if (is.null(data)) {
-    msg <- "An error occurred (%s) when calling the %s operation: %s"
-    error_message <- http_statuses[as.character(request$http_response$status_code)]
-    request$error <- Error(
-      "SerializationError",
-      sprintf(msg, request$http_response$status_code, request$operation$name, error_message),
-      request$http_response$status_code
-    )
+    request$error <- serialization_error(request)
     return(request)
   }
 
@@ -296,11 +290,7 @@ s3_unmarshal_error <- function(request) {
   message <- error_response$Message
 
   if (is.null(message) && is.null(code)) {
-    request$error <- Error(
-      "SerializationError",
-      "failed to decode query XML error response",
-      request$http_response$status_code
-    )
+    request$error <- serialization_error(request)
     return(request)
   }
 
diff --git a/paws.common/R/error.R b/paws.common/R/error.R
index 564ada864..e69269dc6 100644
--- a/paws.common/R/error.R
+++ b/paws.common/R/error.R
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#' @include http_status.R
+
 # Returns an Error object.
 Error <- struct(
   code = "",
@@ -6,6 +8,24 @@ Error <- struct(
   error_response = list()
 )
 
+ERROR_MSG_TEMPLATE <- "An error occurred (%s) when calling the %s operation: %s"
+
+serialization_error <- function(request) {
+  error_message <- http_statuses[
+    as.character(request$http_response$status_code)
+  ]
+  Error(
+    "SerializationError",
+    sprintf(
+      ERROR_MSG_TEMPLATE,
+      request$http_response$status_code,
+      request$operation$name,
+      error_message
+    ),
+    request$http_response$status_code
+  )
+}
+
 #' Generate a classed http error
 #'
 #' This function generates S3 error objects which are passed to
diff --git a/paws.common/R/handlers_query.R b/paws.common/R/handlers_query.R
index 916e53384..9e9779ead 100644
--- a/paws.common/R/handlers_query.R
+++ b/paws.common/R/handlers_query.R
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#' @include http_status.R
+#' @include error.R
 
 # Build the request for the Query protocol.
 query_build <- function(request) {
@@ -47,13 +47,7 @@ query_unmarshal_error <- function(request) {
   )
 
   if (is.null(data)) {
-    msg <- "An error occurred (%s) when calling the %s operation: %s"
-    error_message <- http_statuses[as.character(request$http_response$status_code)]
-    request$error <- Error(
-      "SerializationError",
-      sprintf(msg, request$http_response$status_code, request$operation$name, error_message),
-      request$http_response$status_code
-    )
+    request$error <- serialization_error(request)
     return(request)
   }
 
@@ -63,11 +57,7 @@ query_unmarshal_error <- function(request) {
   )
 
   if (is.null(error)) {
-    request$error <- Error(
-      "SerializationError",
-      "failed to decode query XML error response",
-      request$http_response$status_code
-    )
+    request$error <- serialization_error(request)
     return(request)
   }