You mention lawns and around house work .
You will be busy with bales and slurry when you are wanted at that sort of gig . No one will want you doing lawns for the last month , nor until next March , which is when is your quiet period .
While those jobs can be lucrative , it suits a person with groundwork skills , more so than tractor driving etc .
The ability to lay pipework, galleys, levels is the important part of that job.
Some people will have these skills
And as others have stated here , for that sort of market , you cant beat an experienced operator.
Its not a case of giving the job to someone because , " He is €6 an hour cheaper , than Mick , who has been at that work for 30 years ".
Not raining on your parade. Just pointing out the pitfalls .
Anyone lad " who will work for nothing with a 13 ton digger ," in your words , will always get a certain amount of work moving heaps of clay , digging out yards etc , but he is rarely better value than the experienced driver, after you have paid for the extra time to do it , stone or concrete.