Contractors saw a 0.1 percent reduction in materials costs in November, but that left them 6.2 percent higher than they were a year earlier, and the increase outstripped the rise in what contractors could bid to win work, according to the Associated General Contractors of America

The group had even bleaker news, too.

“Price increases have moderated or even reversed direction at the moment for essential construction materials but prices are likely to increase in the next few weeks,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Meanwhile, federal construction funding has slowed sharply, and some may be cut off completely ... leaving contractors in desperate shape.”

From November 2010 to November 2011, AGC said, its indexes of what contractors said they could charge rose 3.4 percent for new industrial buildings, 3.7 percent for offices, 3.9 percent for warehouses and 4.5 percent for schools – all less than the price increases.