Got a mac? Want estimating software for a mac?

All BuildingWorks software has been written for PC’s but that does not mean you will have problems using BuildingWorks software on a Mac. If you are a Mac User and want to know how to run BuildingWorks software there are certain things you need to be aware of, including that you need to run a virtual Windows environment.

Check your MAC Operating System (O/S)

The first thing you need to check is that you are running a Mac that has an Intel processor. The old PowerPC G3/G4/G5 based Macs cannot run MS Windows or BuildingWorks software.

If you are unsure which processor your Mac has, the link below has simple instructions showing you how to check.
Look for the word “Intel” in the description.

Requirements

To run our any of our modules on a Mac there are several requirements that you have to setup.

  1. Firstly you need to have either Bootcamp, Parallels or VMware Fusion. These are environments which will allow you to run Windows on your Mac. Bootcamp is included free with your Mac, but means that you have to reboot your Mac to switch between Mac OS and Windows. Parallels and Fusion allow you to run Windows at the same time as Mac OS so you can just switch between the two without having to reboot.
  2. Secondly you will need MS Windows installed on your MAC. This can be Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 or Windows 10. Please check the memory requirements for Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 and 10. An absolute minimum of 1 GB of RAM is required in order to run these operating systems on a MAC. We recommend 2 GB to allow this setup to run efficiently however. You need a MAC with an absolute minimum of 2GB of RAM. However, we recommend a minimum of 4GB to run our software effectively
  3. Note: If you are going to be installing Windows 7 or 8 on your MAC, we recommend that you double check that you have a compatible version of Bootcamp (v3.1 or later), Parallels (v5.0 or later) or Fusion (v3.0 or later). Some earlier versions may not be compatible with Windows 7 or 8. With Parallels, they often release newer versions of their software which have more features and support older versions more effectively. Parallels 10 is needed for Windows 10 compatibility.

Please note that BuildingWorks are only qualified to offer support for our own BuildingWorks products. We therefore do not offer support on the setup of operating systems (whether PC or MAC) and/or virtual environments through use of products such as Bootcamp, Parallels or Fusion.