Christchurch City Council says it is being flooded with offers to help clear its backlog of building consents.
International Accreditation New Zealand has threatened to withdraw the council's authority to grant such consents unless it improves its processing rate by 28 June.
Each consent should be processed in 20 days, but businesses in Christchurch say some are taking up to four months.
Mayor Bob Parker says other councils and consent and building specialists have answered the council's call for help.
Mr Parker says the offers have boosted morale, and the council is determined to keep its accreditation.
He says a meeting on Thursday with the accreditation agency was positive and he's confident many of the issues will be fixed by the deadline.