Why the Math Still Favors Mechanical Parking, Even With Tariffs on the Table

For developers weighing parking options on a constrained site, the conclusion hasn’t changed: mechanical parking still recovers space that a conventional ramp structure can’t, and that recovered space still outweighs any single line item on a quote, tariffs included.

That’s worth stating plainly, because tariffs have become a factor every development team now has to account for, regardless of which direction they build. Since July 2026, imports from the European Union have carried a 15% all-inclusive tariff ceiling under the new EU-US trade framework, with steel and aluminum content continuing to carry a separate 50% Section 232 duty on top of that ceiling.

The detail developers sometimes miss is that this cuts both ways. A conventional cast-in-place or precast ramp structure relies heavily on structural steel, and it was already the more expensive path per space before any tariff entered the conversation, because it needs far more built area to do the same job: ramps, drive aisles, and circulation that mechanical systems don’t require.

KLAUS Multiparking America, the U.S. subsidiary of the German manufacturer, assembles its systems domestically from modular components manufactured in Germany, which means its equipment carries tariff exposure too. But according to Christopher Tiessen, President/CEO of KLAUS Multiparking America, that exposure doesn’t change which option comes out ahead; it just means the comparison needs to be run honestly on both sides.

“If a developer’s instinct is to avoid our line item by defaulting to a conventional ramp structure instead, that’s the wrong read on the numbers,” Mr. Tiessen says. “They’re not avoiding tariff exposure by doing that; they’re buying tariff-exposed steel in far greater volume, on a structure that already costs several times more per space once you account for the additional floor area. The tariff doesn’t flip the comparison. It’s a relatively small variable sitting on top of a conclusion that was already pretty clear.”

Conventional structured parking runs at a national median of roughly $33,300 per space, and that figure already reflects steel, concrete, and labor costs that have been climbing independent of trade policy. Mechanical parking’s advantage was never that it was immune to cost pressure; it was that it turns space that would otherwise go to ramps and oversized footprints into buildable or leasable area. Adding a tariff line to one side of that comparison doesn’t erase the structural advantage on the other.

“Even with a tariff added to our side of the ledger, the math a developer runs still starts with how many units or how much additional program they can fit on a constrained site,” Mr. Tiessen notes. “That’s the number that moves a pro forma. A percentage on the equipment cost is real, but it’s one variable sitting inside a much bigger calculation, and it’s one we can help a developer plan for early rather than discover late.”

Mr. Tiessen, who brings both German engineering roots and American development experience to how he frames these conversations, argues that planning early, not avoiding tariffs altogether, which isn’t really an option for anyone sourcing specialized building systems, is the actual takeaway for architects and developers right now. KLAUS’s approach has been to quote tariff exposure as a transparent, itemized cost rather than folding it into an opaque total, so developers can run the comparison with real numbers instead of assumptions.

“We’d rather a developer see exactly what’s driving a number than wonder about it,” Mr. Tiessen says. “Trade policy is going to keep evolving. Our job is to make sure that doesn’t change the answer to the question that actually matters: what gets the most usable space out of the site they have.”

Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.

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