Yes, if we want to experiment with building bases on extra-terrestrial bodies, the moon is a great place to test our technologies. Travel time is short and the energy requirements aren't excessive. It doesn't have an atmosphere that can poison you as is the case with Mars but it's sufficiently nasty in terms of temperature, aridity and radiation exposure to provide a good test of any base-building technology.

Even better, a moon base on the dark side would actually serve a useful purpose. Totally shielded from the earth's light pollution and absent a roiling atmosphere, it's a superb location for a battery of telescope observatories.

As for robot landers building concrete structures for future astronauts, there's just one massive problem. Where are you going to get the water? Mars has no surface water and, if there is water below the surface, we haven't found it yet. Even if we find it, reaching it and extracting it will be a gargantuan problem. Taking water with you is out of the question; the weight penalty is just too great.