Family business gives clients the Royal treatment

 

 

Thirty years ago Beacon”™s Royal (Roy) Ciancanelli was moonlighting in the cleaning business “to make an extra buck,” he puts it. Today he oversees his own business, whose employees include six of his nine children and other staff. (The remaining three children are under age and still in school.) Royalty Carpet, Drapery and Upholstery Inc. is at 288 Main St.

 

Raised in Beacon, Ciancanelli entered Dutchess Community College part time after graduation from Beacon High School. He was still in high school when his father, a union carpenter, was working on construction of a health-related facility and arranged for him to get a summer job there.

The younger Ciancanelli was invited to stay on full time after high school graduation, overseeing plant operations that included cleaning, while studying to become an administrator. Later, married with one child and another on the way, he looked for ways to flesh out income from his full-time job and opened a cleaning service nights and weekends. His first client, St. Patrick”™s Church in Newburgh, remains a customer today.

Armed with a portable shampooing machine, he took on daytime clients without abandoning his day job by hiring a part-time cleaning crew. Next came a part-time woman to answer phones and book jobs. In l986, with a third child on the way, he opted to devote his entire time to the business.

The company”™s strong suit lies in three truck-powered cleaning vans fully equipped for carpet cleaning and emergency water extraction.

 

With animal ownership on the increase, Ciancanelli has been grateful for the special equipment that eliminates animal odors. He reports that the cat urine odors are infinitely more difficult to remove than those of canines.

In 2000 Ciancanelli added sales of carpeting and flooring, including wood, laminate and ceramic tile.

 

The company has attracted such major clients as West Point, Vassar College and Courtyard by Marriott. Some organizations, such as restaurants and medical facilities, require that carpet cleaning take place on nights or weekends. Some of the Ciancanelli offspring attending college take on these shifts.

 

Expensive oriental rugs require special pampering. The company picks up these, as well as area carpets, brings them into its shop for treatment and delivers them back to the owners.

 

The area served by Royalty includes Dutchess, Putnam, northern Westchester and parts of Rockland and Ulster.

 

A hotel under construction three years ago called Royalty in a panic because a water pipe break flooded major areas into which carpeting was already installed. “I was in Troy at an all-star game where my youngest son, Parker, was pitching for Beacon Junior Baseball,” Ciancanelli recalls. Another son, Patrick, responded at once to the call as father and the younger brother hurried back. ”We had three trucks extracting water and were there for a month, using dehumidifiers and turbo fans to dry floors and walls before installing padding and carpeting.”

 

Starting from the top, the Ciancanelli offspring include Royal Daniel, now a state trooper who handles corporate accounts on off hours; Paul Quentin, operations manager; Patrick, who runs a truck; Ryan, who does accounting while studying to become a certified public accountant; Richard and Priscilla, college students who do night and weekend work.

 

The remainder include Paige Lorraine, a high school student; Parker, 15, being introduced into the business by helping to clean the office, and Rebecca, 10. There are five Ciancanelli grandchildren and two on the way.

Ciancanelli is active in Faith Assembly of God Church in Poughkeepsie; has been a coach for Beacon Junior Baseball and has coached Catholic Youth Organization basketball.

 

Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.