diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1ef13dea2..029b7f82a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 ### Fixes
 
 - Reimplement the `unique` test to handle column expressions and naming overlaps ([#33](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/issues/33), [#35](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/issues/35), [#10](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/pull/10))
+- Avoid error in `dbt deps` + `dbt clean` if default project is missing ([#27](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/issues/27), [#40](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/pull/40))
 
 ### Contributors
 
 - [@DigUpTheHatchet](https://github.com/DigUpTheHatchet) ([#10](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/pull/10))
+- [@jeremyyeo](https://github.com/jeremyyeo) ([#40](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-bigquery/pull/40))
 
 ## dbt-bigquery 1.0.0b1 (October 11, 2021)
 
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/connections.py b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/connections.py
index 265959400..d6988103c 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/connections.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/connections.py
@@ -21,10 +21,11 @@
 from dbt.adapters.bigquery import gcloud
 from dbt.utils import format_bytes, format_rows_number
 from dbt.clients import agate_helper
+from dbt.config.profile import INVALID_PROFILE_MESSAGE
 from dbt.tracking import active_user
 from dbt.contracts.connection import ConnectionState, AdapterResponse
 from dbt.exceptions import (
-    FailedToConnectException, RuntimeException, DatabaseException
+    FailedToConnectException, RuntimeException, DatabaseException, DbtProfileError
 )
 from dbt.adapters.base import BaseConnectionManager, Credentials
 from dbt.logger import GLOBAL_LOGGER as logger
@@ -58,7 +59,11 @@ def get_bigquery_defaults(scopes=None) -> Tuple[Any, Optional[str]]:
     project_id is returned available from the environment; otherwise None
     """
     # Cached, because the underlying implementation shells out, taking ~1s
-    return google.auth.default(scopes=scopes)
+    try:
+        credentials, _ = google.auth.default(scopes=scopes)
+        return credentials, _
+    except google.auth.exceptions.DefaultCredentialsError as e:
+        raise DbtProfileError(INVALID_PROFILE_MESSAGE.format(error_string=e))
 
 
 class Priority(StrEnum):