Have you tried with the screwdriver, like said in the description? (Either in the kits or the quest, don't remember now.)
Had the same problem myself until finally I realized the upgrading of blocks is so troublesome at least I am not going to do it. Needs multiple tools and so many resources. For my base I only go for scavenging a ton of rebar frames and concrete mix. Don't tell Jax as he might rob us of some, but there's a plenty to be found in many POIs.
Also, I've still been unable to find fossils myself but a friend of mine found one. ONE.
I've resolved the issue with using the command "cm" and giving out what people need. Especially now when they can't be sold for money it works fine.
Furthermore, last but not least, the quests seem a bit "glued on" once you've eventually created a lot of the workbenches needed for the quests beforehand and you still have to make them again and waste resources on quests that will (maybe?) only give something way further down the line. 11 Perk Points are tempting, but they come in so late I don't know if they're worth the trouble.
I completely understand the issue with that the quests can't be marked done afterwards, as example by just opening the Farm Table.
