diff --git a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/DataflowRunnerTest.java b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/DataflowRunnerTest.java
index c79f7919c95a..8e0172150b71 100644
--- a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/DataflowRunnerTest.java
+++ b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/DataflowRunnerTest.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import static org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowRunner.getContainerImageForJob;
 import static org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v26_0_jre.com.google.common.io.Files.getFileExtension;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.both;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsInAnyOrder;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.endsWith;
@@ -28,6 +27,7 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasEntry;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasItem;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasKey;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasProperty;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
@@ -153,7 +153,6 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.values.TimestampedValue;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.values.WindowingStrategy;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.grpc.v1p26p0.com.google.protobuf.InvalidProtocolBufferException;
-import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v26_0_jre.com.google.common.base.Throwables;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v26_0_jre.com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v26_0_jre.com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
@@ -351,14 +350,9 @@ public void testPathValidation() {
           "--credentialFactoryClass=" + NoopCredentialFactory.class.getName(),
         };
 
-    try {
-      Pipeline.create(PipelineOptionsFactory.fromArgs(args).create()).run();
-      fail();
-    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-      assertThat(
-          Throwables.getStackTraceAsString(e),
-          containsString("DataflowRunner requires gcpTempLocation"));
-    }
+    thrown.expect(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+    thrown.expectMessage("DataflowRunner requires gcpTempLocation");
+    Pipeline.create(PipelineOptionsFactory.fromArgs(args).create()).run();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -372,15 +366,10 @@ public void testPathExistsValidation() {
           "--credentialFactoryClass=" + NoopCredentialFactory.class.getName(),
         };
 
-    try {
-      Pipeline.create(PipelineOptionsFactory.fromArgs(args).create()).run();
-      fail();
-    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-      assertThat(
-          Throwables.getStackTraceAsString(e),
-          both(containsString("gs://does/not/exist"))
-              .and(containsString("Unable to verify that GCS bucket gs://does exists")));
-    }
+    thrown.expect(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+    thrown.expectMessage("gcpTempLocation");
+    thrown.expectCause(hasProperty("message", containsString("gs://does/not/exist")));
+    Pipeline.create(PipelineOptionsFactory.fromArgs(args).create()).run();
   }
 
   @Test
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/util/InstanceBuilder.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/util/InstanceBuilder.java
index f6d9ffe2277d..1639186a599d 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/util/InstanceBuilder.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/util/InstanceBuilder.java
@@ -221,11 +221,20 @@ private T buildFromMethod(Class<?>[] types) {
           String.format(
               "Unable to find factory method %s#%s(%s)",
               factoryClass.getSimpleName(), methodName, Joiner.on(", ").join(types)));
-
-    } catch (IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException e) {
+    } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
+      if (e.getTargetException() instanceof RuntimeException) {
+        // If underlying exception is unchecked re-raise it as-is
+        throw (RuntimeException) e.getTargetException();
+      }
+      throw new RuntimeException(
+          String.format(
+              "Encountered checked exception when constructing an instance from factory method %s#%s(%s)",
+              factoryClass.getSimpleName(), methodName, Joiner.on(", ").join(types)),
+          e.getTargetException());
+    } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
       throw new RuntimeException(
           String.format(
-              "Failed to construct instance from factory method %s#%s(%s)",
+              "Failed to construct instance from factory method %s#%s(%s) due to access restriction",
               factoryClass.getSimpleName(), methodName, Joiner.on(", ").join(types)),
           e);
     }