If you have the expertise, a VPN is a very sensible thing to do for remote access. Setting up a VPN is much more involved than merely connecting a few PCs together in a single building. I can't provide much help here. (a little help later on, though).
fwiw: a 'router' is a more intelligent device than a 'switch' or a 'hub'. Routers connect networks together. To see what I mean here, you have to know all the different meanings of the work "network".
'switches' connect hosts (your PCs) on the same network together. Hubs do the same, but are pretty much obsolete nowadays, and they don't do it as smartly as switches. (but they will do just fine for small networks -- if your hub still works, don't throw it away!)
Both routers and switches do in fact 'route' network traffic, but routers do it at a 'higher level' of technology than switches do; kinda like comparing 2-dimensional space to 3-dimensional. Not a great analogy, but kinda like that.
The "router" you buy at walmart, etc., does in fact route traffic from one network to another (the two networks are your private, local network and the other is the internet, usually), but it is a router that suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome -- that's all the routing it can do. "Real" routers route traffic from any public (or private) network to another public or private network. The internet is a very large public network (actually, a large network of networks). The "network" where all your PCs are attached together is "private". (in many ways)
The main (real) distinction between a public and private network is determined by the IP addresses assigned to the hosts of that network. And I'll stop here. "Internet for Dummies" or "TCP/IP for Dummies" is what you'll need from here on out.
Good day to all you doctors, taking care of us dumb, sickly, lazy and overweight americans ... lol! Does it ever get annoying?
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