diff --git a/templates/Makefile.build-harness b/templates/Makefile.build-harness
index 4dab815a..df2a3539 100644
--- a/templates/Makefile.build-harness
+++ b/templates/Makefile.build-harness
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ endef
 .PHONY : init
 ## Init build-harness
 init::
+	if ! make --version | grep -q "GNU Make 4.4"; then echo "GNU Make 4.4 is required. Please upgrade. For MacOS users it's 'brew install make'."; fi
 	@ $(harness_install)
 
 .PHONY : clean