Construction input prices ticked up 1.5% in August, the first increase in six months, due to a surge in energy costs, according to a new Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data released Thursday. Overall construction costs remain 0.2% lower than a year ago, while nonresidential input prices inched up 0.2% since last year, according to the report. Although the flattening of costs over the past six months suggested inflation had been cooling, expectations for continued price drops should remain in check, said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. “Anyone who thought that excess inflation would simply go away later this year has been rudely awakened this week,” said Basu. “Yesterday’s consumer price data and today’s producer price index indicate that price growth continues to be problematic.”