Why cut-and-cover does not make a Moon base cheap

Could cut-and-cover construction avoid the cost and mass of a tunnel-boring machine?

It changes the machinery but not the industrial scale; the colony still needs enormous excavators, structural material, local control, and repair capability.

Cut-and-cover is a workable alternative method, though it offers no escape from heavy logistics. Excavating and covering a habitat for thousands of people still requires large vehicles and great quantities of concrete or equivalent structural material. Those machines must be redesigned for off-world conditions. Communication delay makes continuous remote driving from Earth unsafe, while even advanced autonomy cannot eliminate breakdowns. A nearby crew therefore remains necessary to supervise, enter the cab when useful, and repair the system when automation fails.