Even though construction materials prices posted a 2 percent decrease in January, concrete products actually increased half a percent and are up 4.2 percent from last year.

The latest producer price index release from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that construction input prices dropped 2 percent in January, which is the sixth consecutive month that they have not gone up.

Year-over-year the prices are down 3.6 percent. Of the materials heavily used in the landscape industry, concrete products actually increased half a percent in January and are up 4.2 percent from last year.

Material prices for nonresidential construction decreased 2.1 percent from December 2014 and 4.6 percent from last January.