I would suggest you have a serious, in-depth, discussion with your host before you go much further. If you are sharing a database they may not appreciate your attempt get inside it.. Alternatively, if they have separate databases for each of their Moodle clients, you may want to change the rules on what you may need in the future, the access you may require all that sort of issue. Whatever the case may be, I would suggest that whatever you want to do, unless you are going to become your own hosts, then you need to maintain the best relations you can with them.
But then, I would seriously recommend that if you have the expertise on staff, or can develop it quickly, you are generally a lot better off hosting it yourself. Hardware is relatively cheap, it is tech support that can be expensive, However, if you have one or two or even three on staff that can properly admin the Moodle, who can also be utilised in other areas, that helps in bringing that cost down.