I'm getting estimates on having a few trees trimmed around the house. The ads for the dirfferent businesses says the are either "bonded", "insured" or both. Before I talk to anyone I'd like to know the difference in the terms, if there is any. Anyone out there know?
Insured is someone else's money in case of a mistake, Bonded is their money in case of a mistake. I would prefer Insured
I could be wrong, but that is my simple way of looking at it
Well, in construction, they are two similar but different things. "Bonded" means that if they fail to complete the work you can invoke their bond and the bonding company will pay to have the work finished. "Insured" means that if they burn your house down while they are working on it, their insurance will cover the claim, not yours.
So it's looking like bonded and insured is the way to go. 
make sure you request a copy of their proof of insurance form with every quote. Then call the company listed on the form to make sure they actually have it. Do not deal with a company with less than $1M total in insurance.
Bond's generally are too small in dollar value to actually make a difference if you were to go after them.
I used to do big deals with contractors as a plant facilities engineer. I never touched a company that was advertised as "bonded." They're all too mickey mouse.
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