Reviewed by Tony France, General Manager
Published 18 June 2026 · Last reviewed 11 July 2026
Sometimes a business opportunity starts with a forced change.
For Darren from Ocean Grove, that change came during COVID.
He had been working as a furniture maker in Melbourne, but COVID shut that work down. After moving to the Bellarine Peninsula, he started looking for something different: a business he could start from home, grow over time, and build around the local area.
That path led him to Diggermate.
Finding a Local Niche
Darren’s Diggermate business focuses heavily on wet hire and tight access work.
In his area, there are plenty of new builds and semi-rural properties where people need help with machinery, access and land work. That created a clear opportunity.
His service area stretches across the Bellarine Peninsula, from Geelong down toward Torquay, giving him a wide local market with ongoing work to chase.
As Darren puts it, there is always something to do.
Building Around Customer Demand
Darren’s fleet includes a 1.7 tonne machine, a micro excavator and two loaders.
The loaders are being used by landscapers, which shows how the fleet can respond to the work that is actually happening in the local area.
He also talks about adding turf and other extras on top of tight access and wet hire work, creating simple upsell opportunities from the jobs already coming in.
That is an important part of building a local hire business. You start with demand, then expand the offer around what customers need.
Darren’s story is a good example of the lifestyle side of Diggermate. He has built a focused local business around wet hire, tight-access work and the kind of semi-rural demand that exists across the Bellarine. It is not about chasing every possible job or trying to become the biggest operator in the network. It is about understanding the local market, building a business from home, staying flexible, and creating something that fits the way he wants to work.
Darren’s story shows another side of the Diggermate model. The system gives owners the brand, website infrastructure, marketing support and network, but it is flexible enough for the local operator to shape the business around their preferred work style. For Darren, that means building a focused Ocean Grove business around wet hire, tight-access jobs, local relationships and the lifestyle he wants, rather than trying to chase every possible hire opportunity.
Starting From Home, Then Scaling
At first, Darren thought the business might be a small, mum-and-dad-style operation.
But once he got into Diggermate and spoke with the team, he saw the trajectory it could take.
The opportunity became bigger than a hobby business. It became something he could build, scale and keep expanding as demand grew.
That is one of the strengths of the Diggermate model: it can start practically, but it does not have to stay small.
Thinking About Starting Your Own Diggermate?
Darren’s story shows how a local operator can take a life change, find a market niche, and build a business around real demand.
If you want a practical local business with support behind it and room to scale, Diggermate is worth exploring.
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