Behaviour of soils is affected by the fabric that ensues upon deposition. Many studies have focused on the effect of sample reconstitution methods on the undrained behaviour of soils, but attempts to assess the effects of procedural variations within a method have been limited. The effect of preparation water content on the undrained monotonic behaviour of moist tamped soils is investigated in this study. Simple shear tests were carried out on three soils; a uniform sand, a well graded sand and a gap graded tailings. Specimens were moist tamped at water content ranging from 4% to 17% to reach a consistent void ratio. Experimental results revealed that even within moist tamping, preparation water content influences the soil fabric and affects the shear behaviour.