diff --git a/fre/yamltools/helpers.py b/fre/yamltools/helpers.py
index 36fe2836a..51624a651 100644
--- a/fre/yamltools/helpers.py
+++ b/fre/yamltools/helpers.py
@@ -129,6 +129,13 @@ def clean_yaml(yml_dict):
         if kc in yml_dict.keys():
             del yml_dict[kc]
 
+    # Clean up any fre_properties in the platforms
+    platforms = yml_dict.get('platforms', [])
+    if platforms:
+        for platform in platforms:
+            if "fre_properties" in platform:
+                del platform['fre_properties']
+
     # Dump cleaned dictionary back into combined yaml file
     #cleaned_yaml = yaml.safe_dump(yml_dict,default_flow_style=False,sort_keys=False)
     return yml_dict
diff --git a/fre/yamltools/info_parsers/compile_info_parser.py b/fre/yamltools/info_parsers/compile_info_parser.py
index 4cca5395d..70832673d 100644
--- a/fre/yamltools/info_parsers/compile_info_parser.py
+++ b/fre/yamltools/info_parsers/compile_info_parser.py
@@ -121,9 +121,9 @@ def combine_platforms(self, yaml_content):
         :param yaml_content: string of yaml information including name, platform,
                              target, model, and compile yaml content
         :type yaml_content: str
-        :return: dictionary of yaml information including name, platform,
-                 target, model, compile, and platform yaml content
-        :rtype: dict
+        :return: string of yaml information including name, platform,
+                 target, model, and compile yaml content
+        :rtype: str
         """
         self.mainyaml_dir = os.path.dirname(self.yml)
 
@@ -139,12 +139,9 @@ def combine_platforms(self, yaml_content):
         # Combine information as strings
         yaml_content += platform_content
 
-        # Load string as yaml
-        yml = yaml.load(yaml_content, Loader = yaml.Loader)
-
         # Return the combined string and loaded yaml
         fre_logger.info(f"   platforms yaml: {py_path}")
-        return yml
+        return yaml_content
 
     def combine(self):
         """
@@ -168,19 +165,22 @@ def combine(self):
 
         # Merge compile into combined file to create updated yaml_content/yaml
         try:
-            yaml_content = self.combine_compile(yaml_content)
+            yaml_content = self.combine_platforms(yaml_content)
         except Exception as exc:
-            raise ValueError("ERR: Could not merge compile yaml config with model config.") from exc
+            raise ValueError("ERR: Could not merge platform yaml config with model config.") from exc
 
         # Merge platforms.yaml into combined file
         try:
-            full_combined = self.combine_platforms(yaml_content)
+            full_combined = self.combine_compile(yaml_content)
         except Exception as exc:
-            raise ValueError("ERR: Could not merge platform yaml config with model and compile configs.") from exc
+            raise ValueError("ERR: Could not merge compile yaml config with model and platform configs.") from exc
+
+        # Load string as yaml
+        yml = yaml.load(full_combined, Loader = yaml.Loader)
 
         # Clean the yaml
         try:
-            cleaned_yaml = clean_yaml(full_combined)
+            cleaned_yaml = clean_yaml(yml)
         except Exception as exc:
             raise ValueError("The final YAML could not cleaned.") from exc