diff --git a/src/js/template-loader.js b/src/js/template-loader.js
index bfe6a93da..a47970f20 100644
--- a/src/js/template-loader.js
+++ b/src/js/template-loader.js
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ var templateCompiler = function(performanceAwareCaller, templateUrlConverter, te
   plugins.push(templatesPlugin);
 
   // initialize the viewModel object based on the content model.
-  var viewModel = performanceAwareCaller('initializeViewmodel', initializeViewmodel.bind(this, content, blockModels.blockList, templateUrlConverter, galleryUrl, modelImporter, exportCleanedHTML));
+  var viewModel = performanceAwareCaller('initializeViewmodel', initializeViewmodel.bind(this, content, blockModels.blockList, templateUrlConverter, galleryUrl, modelImporter, timedExportCleanedHTML.bind(undefined, performanceAwareCaller)));
 
   viewModel.metadata = metadata;
   // let's run some version check on template and editor used to build the model being loaded.
@@ -433,6 +433,10 @@ function conditional_restore(html) {
   });
 }
 
+function timedExportCleanedHTML(performanceAwareCaller, viewModel) {
+  return performanceAwareCaller("exportCleanedHTML", viewModel);
+}
+
 function exportCleanedHTML(viewModel) {
   var id = 'exportframe';
   $('body').append('<iframe id="' + id + '" data-bind="bindIframe: $data"></iframe>');
diff --git a/src/js/viewmodel.js b/src/js/viewmodel.js
index 00f5a99e1..5e8337c12 100644
--- a/src/js/viewmodel.js
+++ b/src/js/viewmodel.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 var $ = require("jquery");
 var ko = require("knockout");
 var console = require("console");
-var performanceAwareCaller = require("./timed-call.js").timedCall;
 
 var toastr = require("toastr");
 toastr.options = {
@@ -347,12 +346,8 @@ function initializeEditor(content, blocks, thumbPathConverter, galleryUrl, conte
     global.setTimeout(viewModel.loopSubscriptionsCount, 1000);
   };
 
-  viewModel.export = function() {
-    var content = performanceAwareCaller("exportHTML", viewModel.exportHTML);
-    return content;
-  };
-
-  viewModel.exportHTML = function() {
+  // before 0.18.8 "export" used to log exportHTML timing, but we moved that in the internal exporter function.
+  viewModel.export = viewModel.exportHTML = function() {
     content = exportCleanedHTML(viewModel);
 
     // Remove trash leftover by TinyMCE