I know of an ultralight school that not only charges Dual for
ALL training, but the CFI/owner sits next to you even when you are
SOLO.
Why? I can only suppose that either:
a) he has so little faith in his own instruction product that he won't let the aircraft out of his sight; or
b) he doesn't insure his aircraft.
Either way, students logging "Command" time with the CFI sitting next to them is a fraud perpetrated against the student and against the RAAus system.
School I trained at it was common practice for the CFI to say, after an hour of dual circuits: "Taxi over and refuel the aircraft, and you can log 0.2 solo for that,
Ace" with a big
grin.
School I now work for charges a
Dual rate; a
Solo rate, which as noted above is basically intended to cover the fact that you need to be signed out, briefed, and de-briefed for each solo
lesson; and a
Private Hire rate, which is "Here are the keys, see ya later".
We don't charge for briefs, but nor are the instructors paid to do them; result is probably not ideal, because the result is a "quick and dirty" approach to briefings so we can get flying and get paid.
dj as others have said, think about what you're getting for the money and work it out. BTW: we're charging $210 dual in a Tommy.