diff --git a/pkl-core/src/main/java/org/pkl/core/runtime/VmUtils.java b/pkl-core/src/main/java/org/pkl/core/runtime/VmUtils.java
index 71e06d88..b2f3ee2a 100644
--- a/pkl-core/src/main/java/org/pkl/core/runtime/VmUtils.java
+++ b/pkl-core/src/main/java/org/pkl/core/runtime/VmUtils.java
@@ -254,6 +254,18 @@ public final class VmUtils {
       IndirectCallNode callNode) {
 
     final var constantValue = member.getConstantValue();
+
+    // const members only need to be executed once on the prototype, and its cached value
+    // can be re-used for all children in the amends chain.
+    if (member.isConst() && owner != receiver) {
+      assert member.isProp();
+      assert owner.isPrototype();
+      var result = readMemberOrNull(owner, memberKey, checkType, callNode);
+      assert result != null;
+      receiver.setCachedValue(memberKey, result);
+      return result;
+    }
+
     if (constantValue != null) {
       var result = constantValue;
       // for a property, Listing element, or Mapping value, do a type check
diff --git a/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/input/basic/constModifier5.pkl b/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/input/basic/constModifier5.pkl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a352c949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/input/basic/constModifier5.pkl
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// should result in only one trace per property
+class MyClass {
+  // property body only gets executed once
+  const prop = trace("hello")
+
+  // typecheck only happens once
+  const prop2: Int(let (_ = trace("hello again")) true) = 1
+
+  res: Int
+}
+
+a = new MyClass { res = 1 }
+b = (a) { res = 2 }
diff --git a/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/output/basic/constModifier5.err b/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/output/basic/constModifier5.err
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43c6808b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkl-core/src/test/files/LanguageSnippetTests/output/basic/constModifier5.err
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+a {
+  prop = "hello"
+  prop2 = 1
+  res = 1
+}
+b {
+  prop = "hello"
+  prop2 = 1
+  res = 2
+}
+pkl: TRACE: "hello" = "hello" (file:///$snippetsDir/input/basic/constModifier5.pkl)
+pkl: TRACE: "hello again" = "hello again" (file:///$snippetsDir/input/basic/constModifier5.pkl)