I find the geobays rather difficult to place where I want them and to relocate them I have to deconstruct them. Except when I do I don't get back any of the material I need to make another attempt at placing it.

There is a circle around your base that might be hard to see but defines the area limits for your base. Anything constructed outside of that circle is therefore not seen as being within your base and no resources are returned when they are deconstructed. Materials are returned for items deconstructed that are located within the area of a base.

I've seen that circle and I'm definitely within it.