diff --git a/dbt/adapters/sqlserver/__version__.py b/dbt/adapters/sqlserver/__version__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..86860fd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dbt/adapters/sqlserver/__version__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+version = '0.18.0b2'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d5f07488..7bd668b5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,11 +1,42 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 from setuptools import find_packages
 from distutils.core import setup
+import os
+import re
+
+this_directory = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+with open(os.path.join(this_directory, 'README.md')) as f:
+    long_description = f.read()
+
 
 package_name = "dbt-sqlserver"
-package_version = "0.18.1"
+
+
+# get this from a separate file
+def _dbt_sqlserver_version():
+    _version_path = os.path.join(
+        this_directory, 'dbt', 'adapters', 'sqlserver', '__version__.py'
+    )
+    _version_pattern = r'''version\s*=\s*["'](.+)["']'''
+    with open(_version_path) as f:
+        match = re.search(_version_pattern, f.read().strip())
+        if match is None:
+            raise ValueError(f'invalid version at {_version_path}')
+        return match.group(1)
+
+
+package_version = _dbt_sqlserver_version()
 description = """A sqlserver adapter plugin for dbt (data build tool)"""
 
+dbt_version = '0.18.0'
+# the package version should be the dbt version, with maybe some things on the
+# ends of it. (0.18.1 vs 0.18.1a1, 0.18.1.1, ...)
+if not package_version.startswith(dbt_version):
+    raise ValueError(
+        f'Invalid setup.py: package_version={package_version} must start with '
+        f'dbt_version={dbt_version}'
+    )
+
 setup(
     name=package_name,
     version=package_version,
@@ -26,4 +57,4 @@
         ]
     },
     install_requires=["dbt-core~=0.18.0", "pyodbc>=4.0.27", "azure-identity>=1.4.0"],
-)
+)
\ No newline at end of file