At first blush, the owner, Jimmy Cerna, seems to know what he is doing. His designs are wonderful and the price is right. But after signing the contract and giving a hefty deposit, five months later, my permit has not even been submitted for approval. Turns out the plans did not fit the space and never would have been approved. But instead of doing everything in his power to get my pool permitted, Jimmy has ignored calls, texts and emails. What few he has answered were made up of lies and promises to return my deposit. These fraudulent misrepresentations prompted me to call some of Jimmy’s former customers. They all echoed what I had been experiencing – once the pool was mostly done, Jimmy would disappear, leaving many punch list items and problems in his wake. A review of his BBB complaints (which I should have heeded) show the same course of conduct.
Since it is clear that Jimmy cannot make good on my contract, he should have the professional decency to refund my money rather than force me to have to file a suit in court. As a fellow professional, I have given him ever benefit of the doubt and courtesy to do the right thing.

Dealing with this company and its owner Jimmy Cerna , along with the general contractor Ambien construction was a complete and total disaster. A never ending pool project that was estimated to take approximately 16 weeks turned into 2 years! Subquality work on $100,000 plus pool, A general contractor who didn’t know what he was doing, lied to us about inspection reports that failed, and then never followed through with the additional inspections to assure quality and safety . He lied to us repeatedly about this along with the insurance coverage he claimed to have and did not , along with so many other things. A general contractor who didn’t pay the pool subs and pool company threatening to walk off the job after we were well into the project. A general contractor and pool company that fought with each other, we were stuck in the middle of a project , our yard torn apart and a pool after 18 months a mess!!!! ! We ended up paying directly to the pool company on behalf of ambient construction in order for them to continue working as Ambient constructions payment was returned for insufficient funds . This project was an utter nightmare . Dealing with these 2 companies literally made us Sick! Finally after we spent nearly 2 years trying to get our pool to hold water, fired both the pool contractor and general contractor , thousands of dollars to have the pool torn apart and redone by another company , we were able to swim in it last summer .
A general contractor who refused to make corrections necessary to correct the problem even after repeated experts told him what needed to be done, for lack of integrity and money to cover the cost . Jimmy Cerner, the pool contractor simply disappeared for months on end never came back to correct $20,000 worth of pool pavers he installed that were improperly installed after numerous promises to do so . We had a $10,000 slide built , that was not properly constructed and didn’t slide, a waterfall feature that also leaked and had to be fixed. A pool finish that was all uneven … The list goes on and on . They also broke our pool fence that had to be repaired, $300, and cut our waterline when digging that they were to pay for …did not, a $650 charge. Stay away from both of these companies. They are unqualified and dishonest ! We believe they took on a project that was far beyond their capabilities and we paid the price for it in so many ways.