diff --git a/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/incremental/IncProjectBuilder.java b/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/incremental/IncProjectBuilder.java
index 8bc64536a451..522e1c5e2653 100644
--- a/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/incremental/IncProjectBuilder.java
+++ b/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/incremental/IncProjectBuilder.java
@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ public class IncProjectBuilder {
   static {
     int maxThreads = Math.min(6, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() - 1);
     try {
-      maxThreads = Math.max(2, Integer.parseInt(System.getProperty(GlobalOptions.COMPILE_PARALLEL_MAX_THREADS_OPTION, Integer.toString(maxThreads))));
+      maxThreads = Math.max(1, Integer.parseInt(System.getProperty(GlobalOptions.COMPILE_PARALLEL_MAX_THREADS_OPTION, Integer.toString(maxThreads))));
     }
     catch (NumberFormatException ignored) {
-      maxThreads = Math.max(2, maxThreads);
+      maxThreads = Math.max(1, maxThreads);
     }
     MAX_BUILDER_THREADS = maxThreads;
   }
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ public class IncProjectBuilder {
 
   private void buildChunks(final CompileContextImpl context) throws ProjectBuildException {
     try {
-      if (BuildRunner.PARALLEL_BUILD_ENABLED) {
+      if (BuildRunner.PARALLEL_BUILD_ENABLED && MAX_BUILDER_THREADS > 1) {
         new BuildParallelizer(context).buildInParallel();
       }
       else {