diff --git a/bin/deploy b/bin/deploy
index ce46444c53a5298b126f7f59c90bb32b75ca8cb8..c1b055f0f27f3e9d05dcbcd004cb85a4ec1dcd14 100755
--- a/bin/deploy
+++ b/bin/deploy
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ then
 else
   # remote deploy
 
-  nix copy --file "$MACHINES_PATH" "nixosSystemDerivations.$hostname" --to "ssh://root@$via_hostname"
+  nix copy --substitute-on-destination --file "$MACHINES_PATH" "nixosSystemDerivations.$hostname" --to "ssh://root@$via_hostname"
 
   # The manual way to do it (this is in theory also supported by nixos-rebuild by using '-I')