Base Building Question

Hello everyone, I am a late comer and just started the game yesterday, I have played other versions of fallout and loved them but held back on this one due to a lot of bad press early on.

So now I'm here because a friend told me it has a pvp and base building element which I love. I play games like The Forest, 7 Days to Die and Valheim because of the base building.

So on to my question. Obviously I am very early in the game so my base building options are minimal but I wanted to know how difficult it is to earn the money to buy the different things. Am I going to be forced to pay in the store if I want to have a good base or is it achievable by just playing the game?

Any tips are welcome. Thank you!
Tim